The Walking Dead: The Decimation of Mankind
by Assassin's Creed Master
Summary: Sequel to "Fight for Survival". Lee Everett, Clementine, Sarah and AJ turned away from Wellington and walked away from the last place that would have probably been their last hope for survival. With nowhere to go, the remaining survivors push together to continue fighting for somewhere safe.
1. Chapter 1: All that's left

**The Walking Dead: The Decimation of Mankind**

 **Chapter 1: All that's left**

 **Warning, if you have not played The Walking Dead Game or read my previous stories, this story will contain spoilers.**

 **Hey, what's up, everyone? Assassin's Creed Master and I'm back with another Walking Dead story which is a sequel to _The Walking Dead: Fight for Survival_.**

 **Now unlike my latest Walking Dead stories which I have been writing with A Writer With Mixed Interests, this story is being written solo. Back to just me writing on my own.**

 **Now I was going to wait a long while until I wrote this story and was going to follow season 3 when it has been released if it followed Clementine's story again, but I decided to write this story from my own ideas.**

 **As usual, I'm rambling on and on again, aren't I? My bad. Enjoy chapter 1, ladies and gentlemen, and if you have any questions, feel free to send a Private Message.**

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Have you ever had that feeling everything you do in life, everything you push hard to achieve was all for nothing? Lee Everett certainly felt that way after coming all this way from Atlanta, pushing through whatever came between him and Wellington, and losing a lot of people who cared for and considered family.

Lee marched away from Wellington with his two adoptive daughters following closely behind him. They came all this way, pushed through any obstacles in their past, only to be told that they could not be granted inside. It was all for nothing.

Lee remained silent as he took the lead towards the way they came from with Clementine, Sarah and AJ not too far behind. He felt crying and screaming for the time he wasted coming here in the first place.

While Lee marched forward, Sarah spoke to her younger friend in a quiet enough time for Lee to not hear. "Clem, is Lee going to be okay? He looks angry."

"I hope so, Sarah." Clementine answered, concerned for her guardian. "Let's just go."

"Where are we going?" Sarah asked.

This was a question that Clementine could not answer. She had no idea where they were going to go from this point, but she was confident Lee had a plan, he always did. The two girls continued following Lee as they turned back one more time to see Wellington before its sight was covered up by the trees.

* * *

Later that day, nighttime had arrived and the small group was forced to make camp for the night before they could make it back to their truck. Lee finished lighting a small fire with Clementine's lighter and sat in silence while Clementine and Sarah ate a couple of their supplies.

With the supplies they got from the town, the supplies they found in that half-built house, and the supplies from Wellington, they were good for a while. Then again, they had plenty of supplies at the motor inn and that all went very fast.

Fortunately there was also some baby formula for AJ that they got from Wellington. After he was fed for the night, he had fallen asleep in Clementine's arms.

The remaining survivors remained in silence for a while, unsure on what to say at this point. They were the last of their group and only had each other left.

"Lee, what are we going to do now?" Clementine inquired while they sat around the fire for warmth.

Lee remained silent, unsure on what to do at this point. They had nowhere to go from this point forward and they were all that remained.

Clementine, seeing she was not going to get an answer, dropped the question and sat in silence.

Although they were not really up for talking at this point, Sarah had to excuse herself for a moment. "Lee, I need the bathroom. Is it okay if I go?"

Lee nodded in response and finally spoke since they left Wellington. "Go ahead. Stay close, Sarah."

Sarah got up from where she was seated and preceded to walk a few steps away for some privacy. Once she was far enough to be out of Lee and Clementine's sight and hearing range, she was about to go and do her business. However, she did not expect a hand to grab her out of nowhere.

"AHH!" Sarah screamed as she turned to her left where a walker had grabbed onto her shoulder. His arm went through a V-shaped tree and he was trying to pull her back to bite her. "GET OFF! HELP!"

"Sarah?!" Lee spoke up and quickly jumped out of where he was seated, grabbing his hatchet. "Clementine, quick!"

Sarah panicked further until she was finally free from the walker's grip, but as she prepared to run away, she came face to face with yet another walker who was limping straight towards her. "LEE! CLEM!"

As she stepped back to escape, her foot came into contact with a rock and before she was aware, she stumbled back and fell down a hill slope. The second walker groaned and followed her down there, also tripping himself on purpose.

"Sarah!" Lee called out when he finally got to where she was a moment ago. He noticed the walker trapped in the V-shaped tree and was quick to dispatch it with his weapon.

"Sarah, where are you!?" Clementine yelled.

Sarah eventually stopped rolling down the hill when she reached the bottom and had caused herself slight injury pain on her head. As she leaned up and rubbed her head, she panicked yet again when the second walker had also reached the bottom of the hill, landing only a few feet away from her.

The walker got back up onto its feet and began to march towards Sarah who was quick to get onto her feet and run away. She backed away in fear and tried to find something useful to aid her survival, but nothing was in sight.

Sarah screamed as a walker closed in on her and had nothing to defend herself with and Lee and Clementine were too far away to get to her in time.

The walker was closing in fast and Sarah had to act now before it was too late. While she was beginning to lose hope, Sarah noticed something through her good glasses lens: a broken tree branch.

Without thinking, Sarah picked up the branch with all of her strength and raised her weapon. Once the walker was in her range, she slammed the branch directly against its skull, knocking it down to the ground. He was damaged, but not done for yet.

Sarah cried out in fear as she slammed the branch down a second time against the walker, finally crushing its skull and brain. She panted and dropped the branch before collapsing against a tree, panting heavily.

This here was the exact reason she needed survival training. She had come close to death many times now and was lucky to escape each time, but luck would not last forever.

"Daddy!" Sarah cried out as she hugged her knees. She still missed her father dearly and felt vulnerable without him.

"Sarah!" Lee called out from nearby.

Sarah looked up and was relieved to see Lee and Clementine had finally located her. She ran towards them and embraced Lee in a hug. Lee returned the hug and held her close, whispering comforting words.

"It's okay. It's okay, I got you." Lee assured, gently patting her back to calm down.

Clementine noticed the dead walker and looked a little surprised, but that surprised. This was Sarah's second kill with the first being one of the Russians a few days back. This proved she had survival and skill in her and with some training; she could protect herself in no time.

"Let's get back to the camp." Lee suggested as he released his arms from around Sarah.

The four survivors proceeded back to their small fire for the night before they decided to tuck in for the night. Lee kept watched while Clementine and Sarah slept. It was a little difficult for Clementine and Sarah to be sleeping on the ground, but at least they were warm and had someone to look out for them.

Tomorrow was going to be a new day.

* * *

 **And that's the beginning chapter, ladies and gentlemen. Lee, Clementine, Sarah and AJ are back and read for action. I'll have more chapters coming soon. Until then, don't forget to hit that review button.**


	2. Chapter 2: on the road again

**The Walking Dead: The Decimation of Mankind**

 **Chapter 2: on the road again**

 **Yo, what up everyone, we're back with the second chapter. Thanks for the feedback on chapter 1, glad to know you guys and gals are enjoying the story so far, even though this is only the beginning. Enjoy chapter 2.**

* * *

Once early morning had arrived, Lee made the decision that they should get going now while they had daylight and was not walking into anything blindly. He proceeded to lead the way back to the truck they arrived in which still had some gas to get them quite some distance and if they could make it to that gas station they saw on the way here, they were good to go.

Lee approached the truck and noticed a single walker looming around the area until it noticed fresh meat and proceeded to try and attack them. Lee raised his hatched and easily killed the walker, kicking it's lifeless corpse down into the ground.

The snow was beginning to clear up which would mean less weather conditions and safer roads to drive in.

Lee checked their truck before getting inside to make sure no-one had decided to get inside and sleep for the night. Once it was clear, he opened the doors for Clementine, Sarah and AJ. "Get in the truck, girls."

Clementine got into the front passenger seat while Sarah got into the backseat with AJ sleeping in her arms and their supply bags beside her.

Lee got into the driving seat and was about to star the engine, but instead, he sighed and lowered his head.

"Lee, what's wrong?" Clementine inquired curiously.

"I don't know what we're going to do now, girls." Lee admitted with a slightly sad expression. "We came all this way, only to be told that we can't go inside. Fuck!" he slammed his fist into the steering wheel, startling Clementine slightly. "I don't know what we're going to do now. We don't have a plan."

"Lee, we always have a plan." Clementine reassured him. Lee was the smartest person she knew and always got them out of a bad situation. "We can't just give up. We have to think of something."

Sarah remained silent, deciding not to get involved in their conversation.

"If you have a plan, I'D love to hear it!" Lee sarcastically replied, somewhat snappy. However, once he calmed down, he sighed regretfully. "I'm sorry, Clementine, I just feel like we wasted so much time."

Clementine accepted his apology, but she was still determined to think of something. She opened up the glove compartment and located a map that peaked her interests. She opened the map and after reading some of it's contents, her expression lit up like a light bulb. "Lee, you know if we keep following the main road, we'll eventually reach Howe's."

Sarah's hopes raised when she heard this. She would love nothing more than to see the rest of their group again, especially Luke.

"Really?" Lee questioned, earning a mere nod in response. He accepted the map and confirmed she was right. "You're right. Well, if there's a chance they're still there, we have to take it. We've lost too many people...We have to stick together. We're all that remains."

"I think that's the best thing to do as well." Clementine agreed, turning around to face her older friend. "What do you think, Sarah?"

"I want to go to!" Sarah agreed a little too enthusiastic. "We need more people."

"Then it's a plan." Lee confirmed, finally able to raise a smile. He turned the keys into the ignition and off they went, setting course straight for Howe's Hardware.

It took them nine days to reach Wellington, and the reason for that is because they had to drive all around Ohio until they located it, but now that they knew the way there and back, they could get there in less time, possibly in a six-seven days. Either way, if that gas station had gas, then that was a definite.

Since they had a long time before they made it to Howe's, they might as well make conversation to pass the time for a while with Clementine begin the one to start one.

"Lee, how did you escape the horde of walkers?" Clementine inquired out of the blue.

"I killed them all, Clem." Lee answered as if it were obvious.

"All of them?" Sarah questioned. "But there were, like, a lot of them!"

"I know, but I was just so angry, so determined, so..." Lee trailed off and shook his head. "It doesn't matter. I dealt with them and I'm fine. Now, mind if we talk about something else?"

"Sure...I guess..." Clementine skeptically agreed. "We could play a game. Anyone up for a game of I spy?"

"Might as well." Lee replied as he scanned his surroundings. "I spy with my little eye, something beginning with...G."

Clementine and Sarah took turns guessing with Lee answering each one of their guesses.

"The grass outside?"

"Nope."

"The green bags?"

"No."

"AJ's blanket." Clementine guessed.

"That's the one." Lee confirmed with a nod. "You're turn, Clem."

"I spy with my little eye, something beginning with W." Clementine hinted with a sly smile.

"The window?" Lee suggested.

"Nope." Clementine shook her head.

"The white clouds?" Sarah asked, pointing outside their truck.

"Uh-uh." Clementine replied.

"The windshield?" Lee guessed.

"Bingo." Clementine nodded. This was actually turning into a pretty fun game.

The small group continued playing some games for a while to pass the time until they eventually made it to the gas station that they passed on their way here. Lee checked how much ammunition he had left in his Glock 17 and was somewhat worried to see he only had one round left.

"Clementine, how are you on ammo?" Lee asked his adoptive daughter, who was standing beside Sarah.

Clementine took out her pistol and checked the capacity. "Just one round left."

"Me, too." Lee replied, placing his gun into the back of his jeans. "We need the ammo. You two stay here, guard the truck. I'll be right back."

Lee took out his hatchet and slowly proceeded towards the gas station. He checked the fuel pumps, but unfortunately, without power, they could not fill it up that way. Lee proceeded inside the building and carefully scanned the inside for any walkers.

He opened the door and knocked his hatchet against the door a few times before taking a step back. After a couple of moments, Lee could confirm that there was no walkers inside and decided it was safe to go in.

Fortunately for Lee, his luck was beginning to turn in his favor. There were jerrycans filled with gas and better yet, a M1987 Trench gun was hanging behind the counter.

"What do we have here?" Lee spoke to himself as he proceeded towards his new weapon. Hopefully, it was not a replica.

As Lee got behind the counter, he felt something grasp his ankle tightly that caused him to stumble down. He groaned and quickly tried to escape from the walker that was trapped under the counter.

"Get the fuck off me!" Lee yelled, kicking the walker a few times in an attempt to free himself.

The walker only groaned in response.

Lee searched for his hatchet that was lying a couple of feet away from his hand. He reached out his arm to grab it, all while trying to keep the walker from biting him.

After some effort, Lee finally reached his hatchet and leaned forward, stabbing the walker directly in the center of it's brain.

"Motherfucker." Lee breathed in relief and stood back up, panting a little in the process.

This was a sign for him to get out of here fast. He quickly grabbed the shotgun from the wall and to his relief, this was no replica, and on the counter shelves was a box of shotgun shells. He opened the box and smiled when there was more than enough shells inside.

Lee strapped the shotgun onto his back and grabbed all the jerrycans, quickly leaving the gas station and running back to the girls and AJ.

"We got gas." Lee announced as he placed all but one jerrycan onto the back of the truck.

"And a new gun by the looks of it." Clementine added with a smile.

After filling up the truck with full gas, the group got back into the truck with Sarah sitting in the front this time and Clementine in the back with AJ still sleeping in her arms.

"Things are looking up." Clementine declared as Lee started the engine and began to drive down the road. "We got a lot of gas and a better gun."

"What about the other gun?" Sarah inquired.

"What other gun?" Lee asked with an eyebrow raised.

"The gun in the bag." Sarah replied, now feeling a little uneasy. "So-Sorry! I saw it when I got some food, and then-"

"Hey, hey, it's okay." Lee assured, patting her shoulder a few times to calm her down. "You did nothing wrong. Relax."

Sarah did that and took a few breaths until she had calmed down.

Clementine searched into the bag Wellington had given them and found a six round revolver. "Not the best gun in the world, but it'll do."

"What's the difference?" Sarah inquired. To her, a gun was a gun.

"Every gun has it's own unique design and, Sarah." Lee explained while he kept his eyes focused on the road. "Take that shotgun I just found. It's powerful, but not that good if we try to shoot a walker from long range."

"Oh." Sarah nodded and tried to understand the best she could. If she was going to learn how to use a gun properly, then she could need to know everything there was to know. "Lee, will you...Will you still tech me how to use a gun when we get to Howe's?"

"Of course I will." Lee reassured with an assuring smile. "I'll teach you in no time. I taught Clementine how to use her first gun in no time. Well, Carley did..."

He trailed off and closed his eyes for a few seconds. He was still in deep mourning of his girlfriend, the woman he loved. What hurt him more is that it was not even the walkers that killed her, it was people. They live in a world where the dead have taken over and they should be working together to survive, but instead, here they are, fighting each other instead.

Lee tried to keep his mind focused on something else for now before he let his emotions get the best of him. "We should think of a plan B, you know. In case we don't find the others."

"We're not going to find them?" Sarah assumed.

"I didn't say that, Sarah." Lee reassured. "But we have to have a back-up plan just in case they are not there. I'm open to suggestions right now."

There was silence for a moment. Regardless of if they found the others or not, they still needed another plan afterwards and a back-up plan.

"What about the cabin?" Clementine suggested out of the blue. "It's not that far from Howe's. We could go back there."

"That sounds like a good idea, but we don't know what way." Lee reminded, but then it occurred to him that they still ha done cabin group member left with them. He turned to Sarah sitting beside him. "Sarah, you were with your group when you escaped Howe's the first time. Do you remember the way?"

Sarah had to think about that question for a moment. It had been quite a long time since they first found the cabin, but she was confident that she would remember once they remember. "I think so. Yeah, I'm sure I remember! I think it was to the South."

"Well, we got a few days so you got plenty of time to remember." Lee reassured, but he had to admit that he would be pretty bored during that time. He pressed his foot a little harder against the gas, picking up speed."

"What's the rush?" Clementine asked when she felt the increase of speed.

"No rush, but no reason to drive slow anymore, right?" Lee answered with a slight shrug.

"Unless walkers give you tickets." Clementine joked with a smile.

This caused the three of them to laugh slightly at Clementine's joke. This was probably the first any of them laughed in a long time. It felt nice for things to feel normal again, probably would have felt nicer if they were granted access to Wellington.

Still, it was nice having the dream while it wasted, but there only hope now was to find the others and make a better plan. There were only three purposes now for the group: to find the others, to find shelter and most importantly...

To survive.

* * *

A **nd that's chapter 2 completed, ladies and gentlemen. The remaining survivors are on their way to Howe's in hopes of meeting up with the other survivors. Let's wish them luck.**


	3. Chapter 3: reunited

**The Walking Dead: The Decimation of Mankind**

 **Chapter 3: reunited**

 **Hey everyone, Assassin here with chapter 3 of the story. I was going to update yesterday, but duty calls and I had work to do, but I'm here now so it's all good. Enjoy reading folks and if you don't like the story, I will eat your s-o-o-o-o-u-u-u-u-u-l-l-l-ls. I'm just kidding, I bet ya'll are thinking "What the hell is wrong with this dude?"**

* * *

Six days. It took six long days for Lee, Clementine, Sarah and AJ to make from Ohio back to Carolina. Nothing much happened during their journey back, other than they began to bond over their stories up until the apocalypse began which was a little difficult for Sarah due to the mention of her father.

Lee continued down the same road until he spotted in a familiar building in sight and pulled up inside the Howe's Hardware parking lot. As he was about to park close to the building, his eyes widened when he spotted a familiar corpse in the middle of the parking lot, amongst other bodies.

It was the remains of Carlos.

Lee quickly turned the car away before Sarah would notice. It took time for Sarah to recover from her father's death and even now, she was still grieving. If she were to see her father's corpse, all that time they spent trying to help her recover would turn into a waste.

Lee parked the car only a few feet away from the building and stepped outside, deciding to walk from her just in case the others mistook them for someone else. That's if they were still here of course.

Lee carried their weapons and supplies while Clementine carried AJ. Sarah walked beside Lee who kept his arm on her shoulder to prevent her from looking back just in case.

"We made it." Sarah announced the obvious with a hopeful expression.

"It doesn't even look that damaged." Clementine stated while examining the building.

Lee looked up towards the roof of Howe's where he could just about make out the greenhouse, and a smile widened across his face when he spotted three familiar faces. "Luke! Bonnie! Mike!"

The trio above looked down and Lee could have sworn he heard Mike curse in excitement. Seconds later, the three of them disappeared and came running out the delivery door entrance that Troy broke.

Sarah ran towards Luke who was still limping slightly due to his injured leg but he seemed to be recovering nicely, and this was good. She threw her arms around him and embraced him in a hug.

"Hey, good to see you, Sarah." Luke greeted as he knelt down and returned the hug. He looked up to see the others and nodded to greet them. "I'm glad ya'll are back."

"We never thought we'd see ya'll again." Bonnie replied while she shared a hug with Clementine and AJ, relieved to have them back. "What happened? Couldn't you find Wellington?"

"We found it, but thing is, they were full. Didn't have any more room for any of us." Lee explained, shaking hands with Mike. "Glad that we found you guys again. If I'm being honest, I didn't think you'd still be here."

"Ya'll are here now and that's what matters." Bonnie assured with a slight nod. She noticed Lee struggling to hold his supplies slightly and took one of the bags from him. "Come on; let's get inside before the undead show up."

"I'll park the truck inside." Mike suggested, beckoning for Lee to throw him the keys to the truck. It might be useful to have a working vehicle just in case.

Lee threw him the keys while he proceeded to follow the others inside Howe's. Now he no longer had to worry about the others not being here.

Once they were inside Howe's, Lee was slightly surprised to see how untouched it looked despite the horde of walkers. The insides walls did not look damaged, the place was clean from walker corpses, and there was not a sight of blood anyway. Either the others had cleaned up or everyone in Howe's somehow escaped.

"This place looks untouched." Lee announced the obvious. "Did you guys do some house work?"

"Only had to move some bodies, but none of them were from Howe's...Except for Troy and Bill." Bonnie explained as they reached the bedroom area where the members of Howe's use to sleep. A lot nicer than that pit outside.

"Good thing is they left some guns behind, too." Luke added as they walked into a living room area that looked like it was man-made. "Few assault rifles and a couple of pistols. We're good on ammo."

"And supplies." Lee reminded. He took a seat on one of the couches and placed his feet up, exhausted from the long drive here. "We've been on the road for so long, it's crazy. I just want to sleep for a while."

"You go on ahead, we'll watch the kids." Bonnie reassured as she placed her rifle down in the corner.

Lee got comfortable and got some sleep for a while. He without a doubt needed it after the long journey from Ohio. While he got some rest, Clementine set AJ down on a small bed in the room while she took a seat on an armchair.

Luke went to go and keep watch with Mike for a while. Sarah, in the meantime was trying not to remember all the bad memories in here. This was the exact some place her father was killed. It was all because of Carver. That bastard. Why couldn't he just leave them alone? He claimed he was trying to help people for the greater good. Well if killing people is for the greater good, then what made sense in this world anymore?

Sarah was not going to let that happen anymore. When Lee woke up, she wanted to get started on her shooting training as soon as possible.

* * *

The next day, the group of seven gathered together for some morning breakfast before they would decide on what to do for the day. With their weapons and supplies, they were great to go on for a long time, but when it came to safety, Howe's clearly was not safe after the events that happened.

Say another horde was to stumble their way, what were they going to do then? If the guards here could not hold them off with their weapons last time, then what chance did two men, a woman, two girls and a baby have? No, this place was not going to do. Once they were rested up, they were going to have to talk about leaving this place and finding somewhere else to settle in.

After breakfast was over, Sarah followed Lee and tugged on his arms to get his attention. "Lee?"

"Yes Sarah?" Lee replied, turning back to face her.

"Can you...? Can you teach me how to shoot now?" Sarah requested, placing both of her hands together nervously. With her past experience of using a gun, it scared her, but like it or not, she was going to have to get use to wielding one, otherwise someone else in their group was going to end up dying.

Lee thought about it for a moment. It may take a while to teach Sarah how to shoot, but then again, Clementine was younger than she was when she learned how to shoot yet she turned out to be almost a greater marksman than Carley. "Sure, I think we can get started right now."

Sarah smiled slightly in response. "I'd like that."

Lee proceeded into the next room where they were keeping their supplies and grabbed a couple of their weapons: a Glock 17 for himself, a Glock 17 and a blade for Clementine, and the revolver for Sarah. He located Clementine who was speaking to Bonnie until she noticed her guardian. "Hey Clementine, need your help for something."

"Sure thing." Clementine agreed with a nod.

"We're heading out for a while." Lee announced to the others, pointing his thumb towards the exit of Howe's. "I'm going to give Sarah some target practice lessons, get her acquainted with a gun."

Bonnie arched an eyebrow and placed a hand upon her hip. "You sure that's a good idea, Lee?"

"What do you mean by that?" Lee inquired, crossing his arms together. "We got more than enough ammo."

"...Never mind." Bonnie shook her head and dropped the subject for now. However, she did decide to assist them by picking up some empty bottles that they found scattered across the floor. "Here, use these to practice with."

"Thanks." Lee nodded and placed them in his backpack. He turned around and escorted Clementine and Sarah with him to the exit of Howe's. "Let's go."

The trio made their way outside via the delivery door that Mike was able to fix when they returned. They opened the door and stepped outside, walking towards the forest area. They decided to leave the truck, rather walking it instead. At first, Lee just considered practicing here in the parking lot, but the noise might attract unwanted attention.

Lee handed Clementine a pistol and a knife, trusting her to keep watch for them while he trained Sarah.

"How far are we going to practice?" Clementine inquired, placing her gun into the back of her pants.

"Not far, just far enough so the noise doesn't drive any walkers towards Howe's." Lee answered while he kept a sharp eye out for any walkers, or worse, people.

It took them a few minutes until they found a good area to practice shooting. Only problem was a single walker was roaming around the area until it noticed new prey and began to limp towards them, desperate for a tasty meal. Lee went to shoot it, but Clementine placed her hand out, beckoning for him to hold his fire.

"I got him." Clementine announced as she approached the walker slowly. She waited until it was close enough before using Jane's little technique advice to take him down.

Clementine kicked the walker down and stabbed it in the head with her knife. Now that it was dispatched, she helped Lee in setting up the bottles on some of the trees to get ready for target practice.

Now came the difficult part. Lee let Sarah hold the revolver and began to teach her about using a gun, how it works and when to use it. "Now first thing to remember is not to be afraid of it. It's just a thing, but we only want to point it at someone who's trying to hurt you like walkers or some people..."

Lee went on and showed Sarah how to reload a gun and how to take the safety switch off, but now it was actually time for her to shoot.

Lee stood behind Sarah who was already aiming, but before she continued further, Lee repositioned her arms. "Now don't lock your eyebrows. If you want, close one eye to get a better aim."

"Left eye or right eye?" Sarah inquired.

"Well, which hand do you write with?" Lee asked.

"My right hand." Sarah responded, looking up towards him.

"Then close your left eye." Lee suggested with a small smile. He placed his hand over her ears and allowed her to take a shot at the bottles. "Okay, whenever you're ready. Fire."

Sarah squeezed the trigger and the sound of the bullet echoed throughout the entire area. She panicked as the gun flipped out of her hand, but at the same time, she hit the bottle on the first try. "Eeek!"

She took a few steps back but Lee quickly stopped her from running away in fear.

Lee placed his hands upon her shoulders and looked into her eyes with a face of reassurance. "Hey, hey! It's okay, you did it. You hit the bottle."

"I-I-I did?" Sarah questioned, turning back towards where the bottles were stationed.

"Yeah, you did." Lee nodded before he proceeded to pick up the revolver and pass it back to Sarah to continue their practice. "In the future, try to keep a better grip on the gun. You'll get stronger in no time. Come on, let's try again."

Sarah adjusted her grip on the gun and get ready to fire again with Lee placing his hands against her ears. She took a small breath and aimed down the sights of the gun, getting her aim on the bottle. She squeezed the trigger and fired, taking down the bottle with one shot, and this time, she did not drop the gun.

"I got it!" Sarah enthusiastically announced, lowering the gun as she turned back to Lee.

"Good job, Sarah." Lee praised as he turned her back towards the bottles. "Let's keep going though; you're far away from becoming a great marksman."

Sarah continued her training and fired the remainder of her bullets and hitting all but one bottle. Once she was out of ammunition, Lee began to teach her how to reload a gun.

"Now just place the bullets in here, push it back in until you hear the click and then you're good to go." Lee instructed, passing her revolver back to her. "Now I'm going to let you hit the last bottle on your own. Good luck."

Lee took a few steps back and observed Sarah with Clementine. Sarah took a deep breath before aiming down the sights of her gun. With good concentration and good aim though her good lenses, Sarah fired and the bottles smashed apart and scattered across the ground.

Sarah smiled in satisfaction and lowered the gun down, turning back towards her friends. "I did it!"

"Nice job, Sarah." Clementine praised her older friend.

"How do you feel?" Lee inquired with his arms crossed.

"I feel like there's a ringing in my ears." Sarah answered, running one of her fingers inside her ear. "It sounds like, 'Eeeee!'"

"You'll get use to it in the future." Lee assured, patting her shoulder a few times. "Come on, that's enough training for today. I think we should get back-"

Lee cut himself off from his own sentence when he heard rustling nearby. The three of them quickly aimed their guns towards the source of the sound and prepared for the worse. A single walker emerged from the woods and limbed towards the humans, prepared to take bites out of their flesh for its own satisfaction.

"Only one of them." Lee spoke up, beckoning for them to lower their weapons. He easily shot it down without effort, but as they turned to leave, more rustling could be heard from the same direction.

Lee turned back and raised his weapon, but froze and his eyes widened when he saw not one, but a whole group of walkers emerging from the woods, heading straight for them. "Oh, shit. Run!"

The trio made haste to escape as soon as possible, running away from the walkers as they tried to make their way back to Howe's. Along the way, they began to panic further when walkers also began to emerge from the sides of the forest.

"Just keep running!" Lee shouted, shooting a walker that was blocking their way.

More walkers continued to appear out of nowhere. They must be the remainder of the herd that attacked Howes. Who knows how many of them remained? Regardless, Howe's clearly was not prepared to stop them and depending on if they were to find Howe's again, the group would have no choice but to move.

As they continued running, a couple more walkers appeared in front of them.

Lee took out his Glock 17 and shot one of them down and pushed the second one of his way.

Clementine kicked a walker down and stabbed it in the head with a knife. She quickly continued running with Lee and Sarah.

Eventually, the group made it out from the frost and there was Howe's in their sights with the walkers not far behind. They were exhausted, but if they stopped running now, then the walkers would catch them.

"Keep running!" Lee shouted, allowing Clementine and Sarah to run ahead. "Go!"

Lee shot down a few more walkers that were getting closer by the second. He kicked one more down before running towards Howe's.

The trio continued running towards Howe's until they were close enough to call for help. Lee could just about make out Luke and Mike on the roof of Howe's, and both men suddenly stood up, more than likely noticing the walkers heading straight towards them.

"Oh, shit!" Luke cursed, quickly grabbing his rifle and making haste with Mike to get downstairs. "Mike, get Bonnie and some guns!"

"On it!" Mike replied, running in another direction.

Lee, Clementine and Sarah finally made it to the outside of Howe's where the delivery door opened and out came Luke, Bonnie and Mike, all armed with AK-47's.

"Lee!" Bonnie called out, throwing him an extra rifle.

Lee caught it and stood in a defensive position with the others. He had no experience using an actual rifle, but now was the time to learn. The four adults began firing towards the walkers, taking each of them down one by one while Clementine and Sarah stood watching.

Clementine turned towards Sarah and both girls nodded towards each other before taking out their weapons and assisting everyone else in taking down the walkers.

One by one, each walker fell down until their numbers were beginning to thin out. There must have been at least thirty of them, but the group was able to take them down in no time. One walker remained and Lee was the last one to finish it off with his Glock 17.

Everyone lowered their weapons and proceeded back inside Howe's building, relieved that they escaped from the walkers unscathed.

"That was a LOT of them." Lee stated the obvious, placing his AK-47 down with the rest of their weapons.

"Jesus, I don't know how much longer we can stay here." Bonnie admitted, holding her hands against her head.

"This place clearly isn't stubborn enough to stop walkers." Mike announced the obvious.

"What are we supposed to do?" Clementine asked them. Wellington was their last hope, but with no access, they could not go back. "Where can we go?"

There was silence for a moment and everyone turned towards the other, expecting an answer, but no-one had any suggestions. Lee sighed and took a seat on a couch with his arms crossed, hoping that somewhere out there in this God-forsaken world was the answer to their prayers.

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 **That's chapter 3 completed, folks. The group are reunited, but it is clear that Howe's is not capable of protecting them any further and with Wellington out of the question, what will our survivors do now? Only one way to find out...Next chapter coming soon.**


	4. Chapter 4: plan of action

**The Walking Dead: The Decimation of Mankind**

 **Chapter 4: plan of action**

 **Chapter 4 is at your door. I'm terrible at writing, aren't I? Anyway, here's chapter 4, ladies and gentlemen. Now I'm prepared to make you all an offer. I will bring chapter 5 tomorrow IF we can get 10 reviews on this chapter. What do you guys and gals think? That sound fair? Guess I'll have to wait and see myself. In the meantime, enjoy the chapter.**

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After the walker attack on Howe's earlier the following day, it had become quite clear to Lee that this place was no longer capable of keeping any of them safe from the walkers, or worse, people that may try to harm them. This is the reason Lee decided to call a group meeting inside of Howe's.

Everyone gathered around in the center of the room and took a seat on the couches while all eyes were focused upon Lee who was trying to put the right words together. He had the feeling that it may take some convincing, but he was determined for them to hear him out.

"After the recent attack on Howe's, and the herd that attacked before, it's clear that this place is capable of keeping us safe." Lee began and took a breath to continue. "We can't stay here anymore; it's too unsafe. If an army of people armed with automatic rifles couldn't stop the walkers last time, then what chance do we have?"

Everyone seemed to be agreeing with his words so far, but they would wait until he was finished before speaking up themselves. All except Bonnie, that is.

"Do you have a plan, Lee?" Bonnie inquired while she was cradling AJ.

"We're going to find somewhere safe." Lee announced to the remainder of their group. "Not just some camp, but somewhere we can fortify. Somewhere with walls, strong walls. Somewhere we can settle down without fear of the walkers."

The group all turned towards one another yet again. Lee was right about Howe's not being strong enough to keep them safe, but where would they go? They had no destination and had no idea where they could go for shelter. Hopefully, Lee had a plan on where they could go.

"Where will we go?" Clementine spoke up with a question.

Lee lowered his head down for this next part. He had no idea if he was being honest and was hoping they could just improvise along the way. "I...Uh...I have no idea if we're being honest, Clementine, but at this point, anywhere is better than this place. I say we get our guns and supplies and make a go for it."

Lee stood up and walked towards the end of the room, standing before the group. "I don't have an exact destination, but I say we had south, away from the cold, and along the way, we'll keep our eye out. I know somewhere out these is the answer to our problems and we're going to find it, no matter what it takes."

"Can we do it?" Mike inquired. "Just us seven, including AJ."

"Yes." Lee confirmed with an expression of reassurance.

"Where would we go?" Mike asked a second time. "We could try Mexico?"

"Mexico?" Lee repeated with a curious eyebrow raised. "Uh, I think we'll call that 'Plan B'."

"It's going to be tough." Luke stated the obvious while looking somewhat unsure on what to do.

"I know, Luke, but we have to make a go for it." Lee replied. Now it was time hear the other's opinion on his new plan before they would take further action. "Who's with me?"

The group had to think for a moment, but one by one, everyone raised their hands in agreement. Luke looked a little hesitant at first, but he joined in with the rest of the group and raised his hand in agreement.

Lee nodded in satisfaction and crossed his arms together. "Good. We'll leave tomorrow afternoon in the truck. It might be a bit cramped, but we all should be able to fit inside. Everyone get some rest for tonight."

With the meeting adjured, the group decided to tuck in for the night (with the exception of Mike, who went to go and keep watch) and get to sleep on some of the beds inside of Howe's. These beds were must more comfortable than those wooden punk beds outside in the pen.

Lee and Clementine climbed into two separate single beds beside each other and got ready got a good night's rest.

"Lee?" Clementine caught Lee's attention while tucking under the blankets. "Do you think we can make it somewhere safe? Permanently safe?"

"It's going to be difficult, Clementine." Lee admitted while looking up towards the ceiling. "It won't be easy, but I promise that we will find that somewhere safe, somewhere that AJ can grow up without worrying and somewhere you and I can finally rest without having to sleep with a pistol next to our heads every night."

"I hope so, Lee." Clementine agreed with a sigh followed by. "I know as long as you're here, we can find somewhere safe."

Lee smiled in response, relieved that his adoptive daughter still trusted in him to get them out of a bad situation. "Thank you, Clementine. You better get some sleep for tonight."

Clementine agreed with that and rested her head down in a pillow, closing her eyes and almost immediately drifting off into a deep sleep.

Lee sighed while watching Clementine sleep for a few seconds before turning away from her and facing the darkness of the ceiling, somewhat nervous about the events that would occur. While he had faith in this plan to head south, he also had doubts. Last time they had a plan and traveled so far, they were forced to turn back.

Whatever happened in the future would be a mystery, but for the sake of survival and keeping these people-his family safe at all costs, he had to try no matter what. They were all that remained now. Lee tried his best not to worry and get some sleep for the night.

* * *

When morning had arrived and the sun set light across the state of Carolina, Luke had woken up after spending the night sleeping on a lawn chair on top of the roof. He had been keeping watch for half the night, but fortunately, Mike took over the watch shift and allowed the younger man to rest for a while.

Luke yawned as he picked up his AK-47 and kept watch in the distance for any walkers, but everything looked clear. No sign of Mike either. He more than likely went back inside to get some rest for a while.

Now that he was alone, Luke had the time to think about the people he had lost close to him. A couple of weeks ago, he and the entire group were living peacefully in a cabin, safe from walkers, but that all changed when Carver had arrived and ruined everything, taking away his group...His friends...His family.

He and Sarah were the only remaining cabin group survivors remaining now. Pete was bit and later shot by someone unknown, Nick was bit, Alvin was shot, Carlos was shot and devoured, and Rebecca lost too much blood in the cold. He wished there was a way to go back in time and bring everyone back.

Maybe. Maybe he could have done something better. He still felt guilty of fooling around with Jane that almost got Sarah and the others killed and even guiltier for suggesting to leave Lee behind after he took a beating for them when it was Luke's fault in the first place for getting them caught.

From this point forward, he was going to think before acting and hoped he could help the group more in the future. He was dazed out from his thoughts when a familiar voice greeted him.

"You awake now?"

Mike appeared out of nowhere, holding two sandwiches in bags for them to eat. He took a seat on the other lawn chair and offered one of the sandwiches to Luke.

"Thanks Mike." Luke thanked, accepting the sandwich.

The two sat in silence for a couple of moments as they ate their sandwiches, watching as the sun continued to rise from the sky. If only they were not keeping watch, it would have been nice to watch the sunrise.

After they finished breakfast, it was time to keep watch for a while in case any walkers or people tried to attack them again. At least they were going to be leaving soon.

"So what do you think?" Luke spoke up while leaning back in his chair.

"About what?" Mike asked curiously.

"About us leaving and heading south." Luke reminded as if it were obvious to what he was asking. "What do you think about it?"

Mike looked forward and crossed his arms together. He needed a moment to think about his question before giving a proper answer. "Well, I think it's a good idea to get away from the cold. I'm just worried about finding somewhere to settle down, you know?"

"It's going to be tough finding somewhere permanently safe from all this crap." Luke agreed, scratching the back of his head for a moment. "Well, I trust Lee to find us somewhere safe. I know we can do it if we stick together."

"If we had beer, I'd drink to that." Mike replied with a slight smile.

As Luke took a moment to check his gun, Mike picked up a sniper rifle he brought with him and looked through the scope of the rifle when he thought he saw something in the distance. While it was a little difficult to make it since the sun was in his eye, he could tell something, or someone was making their way over here.

"Luke, I think we got company." Mike warned, keeping his eye locked towards the figures coming back.

"What is it?" Luke inquired, taking the rifle for a moment to see what Mike was interested in. He got a better view once the sun had tucked away for a moment and then his eyes widened in fear and shock. "Oh, shit..."

* * *

Lee Everett was fast asleep in his bed, sleeping probably the best he had ever slept in a long time. He felt great sleeping in a bed again, but too bad it would not last long since they had to leave soon and it was not like they could take the beds with them.

Meanwhile, Clementine was helping Bonnie with some of the supplies while Sarah attended to AJ and kept the young baby asleep for a while. The two were busy carrying their supplies to the truck for them to be prepared to leave as soon as possible.

"A great thing ya'll found this truck." Bonnie admitted as she placed their bags in the backseat part of the truck.

"Can we still fit in the truck if we put the supplies in the backseat too?" Clementine asked, placing another bag inside the truck.

"We should be able to squeeze in still." Bonnie assured as they proceeded back towards the next room to fetch the rest. "When it comes to leave, we'll just either keep the bags under the seats or on people's laps. We can't put them in the back of the truck and rest them dropping out. We'll be all right, trust me. Beside, who knows? Maybe we might find a bigger vehicle on the way."

"Well, we got enough gas for a long time." Clementine agreed, picking up another one of their supply bags.

"Then we got nothing to worry about." Bonnie responded with a nod. "Come on, let's finishing loading these supplies on. We're almost done."

It did not take much longer to get everything important backed in the truck. All together, they had four bags for food and drink and one more bag for their guns and ammunition, filled with a couple of pistols, a few assault rifles, a sniper rifle, and a shotgun. The gas in the Jerrycans was placed at the back of the truck still.

"And that's everything." Bonnie smiled, placing her hands upon her hips. "Now we'll just wait until everyone's rested and then we can go."

At that moment, Lee finally woke up from his sleep and let out a big yawn, stretching his arms out. He joined the girls in the same room and greeted them. "Morning. I see you two have been busy."

"Everything's packed and ready to go, Lee." Bonnie announced with a nod. "Whenever you're ready to go."

"We'll wait a little while, let Luke and Mike get some rest for a while." Lee suggested, but a second later, his expression turned into a half-sad yet half-worried. He turned around and headed towards the yard they were placed during their first time here.

Clementine noticed this and followed him, concerned for his well-being. She followed Lee outside and spoke to catch his attention. "Lee, is everything okay?"

"Just thinking about the people we lost." Lee answered as he sat down on one of the lawn chairs. "We lost too many people, Clementine. Carley, Doug, Mark, Lilly, Larry, Ben, Chuck, Nick, Pete, Alvin, Rebecca, Carlos...But I promise, I won't let you die. I'll never let anything happen to you."

Clementine wished she could believe that. No doubt she trusted Lee with her life and he had taught her everything she needed to know about survival, yet look what happened. They lost too many people, good people too. She opened her mouth to reply, but froze when an unfamiliar voice screamed out.

"YOU MADE A BIG FUCKING MISTAKE COMING BACK!"

"What the fuck!?" Lee cursed, jumping out from his seat. He peaked through one of the bars and wood to see a few unnamed faces, armed with assault rifles and pistols. "Oh, shit!"

"Lee, what's going on!?" Clementine asked, running beside him to investigate.

"Clementine, go to Sarah and AJ, quick!" Lee ordered while the duo sprinted back into Howe's to get some weapons. Clementine ran into the same run with Sarah and the baby while he located Bonnie who was running towards him too, armed with two AK-47's.

"Lee! Shit, we got a problem!" Bonnie announced the obvious, throwing one of the assault rifles.

"No shit." Lee replied, catching the rifle while they ran towards the man door outside. "Who are these guys?!"

"People who lived here." Bonnie answered. "They must have escaped and now they're back."

"Fuck." was all Lee could respond to. Once they were in position, the two took cover by the delivery door and prepared to open it to ambush them.

Outside of Howe's, the remaining members of Carver's community aimed their guns towards Luke and Mike who were still on the roof and in return, were aiming towards them. There were at least ten of these people. Half were armed with automatic weapons while the other half was armed with pistols.

"Listen everyone, just stay calm!" Luke suggested, not wanting this situation to break out like the last one did between them and the Russians.

"You fucking people cost us everything!" one of them shouted. "Now you're fucked!"

"Look, we're planning on leaving soon!" Mike reassured them with a slightly nervous expression across his face. "You can have this place back and we'll leave. No-one needs to get hurt here."

"Fuck you!" the apparent leader of this little faction shouted in response. "We're going to kill every last one of you motherfuckers for what you did!"

"You shoot and you're just going to attract every last walker in the area to you." Mike warned in an attempt to change their minds.

"What we did!?" Luke shouted, shocked of the accusations they were throwing at him. "You and that psychopathic motherfucker Carver held us hostage here like prisoners. If anything, this all you guy's fault."

"That smart-mouth bastard!" another one of the members yelled. "Let's just put a bullet in them right now!"

"Amen to that." the leader agreed, preparing to fire his gun.

At that moment, Lee knew it was time to attack. Despite not having the numbers to take them all on at once, they had to try otherwise they were going to die. Lee placed it his hand up and used his fingers to count down to three. Once he finished counting down, the two quickly opened the delivery door and fired towards the faction seconds before they were going to fire themselves.

The second gun fired erupted, Luke and Mike fired too. They managed to take down at least half of the group, but the other half were still alive and danger. The leader of the group survived too and took cover behind a destroyed car, blind firing out of cover.

Lee fired a few more rounds before leaning back into cover and reloading a round into his gun. "Bonnie! I'm going out there!"

"What?!" Bonnie shouted, surprised to what Lee had just said. It sounded crazy, not to mention suicide "Lee, that's crazy!"

"We can't risk them hitting the truck!" Lee explained, shouting at the top of his lungs due to the gunfire. He spotted another piece of cover he could use while out there: another partially destroyed car. "Cover me!"

Lee leaned out of cover just for a split second to survey the area and get to know where his enemies were located. The leader and two of his men were behind cover, another man was standing out in the open shooting towards Luke and Mike, and the last man was injured, lying on the ground, but he still continued to shoot nevertheless.

"Now!" Lee shouted, quickly sprinting outside as the gun fire continued.

Lee slid in cover behind the car just in time as the man standing in the open now had his eyes set upon him. He turned around and fired in Lee's direction, the bullets hitting the car every time, but fortunately, they were not powerful enough to penetrate the metal.

While the man was distracted, Luke leaned up and fired towards him and was able to hit him directly through the head, leaving only four of them remaining.

Bonnie peaked out of cover for a quick second, but the injured man was firing her way and prevented him from leaning out of cover to get a clear shot. She gained Lee's attention by waving towards him and then pointing towards them man.

Lee nodded to confirm and lined up a shot while the others were not looking his way. He aimed towards the injured man and fired, hitting him through the chest. Now only three of them remained.

"Nice shot!" Bonnie praised, placing a hand to her mouth for her voice to echo.

"It's not over yet!" Lee reminded, ducking back down when he was fired upon.

The three men were in cover behind another car and it was difficult to get a clear shot on them. For some reason, Luke and Mike were no longer shooting from the roof and that left Lee and Bonnie to fend for themselves.

Bonnie leaned her head out, but immediately ducked back inside when one of them fired her way, almost hitting her in the process. "Fuck." she cursed while taking a clip out of her gun to reload.

Lee leaned up and fired a few more rounds, but then he heard his gun click and he had no more assault rifle rounds as back-up. He placed his gun down and took out his Glock 17.

While trying to plan his next move, Lee look towards the forest in the distance and his eyes widened in fear when he spotted multiple walkers heading their way after being attract by the gunfire. If the group didn't end this firefight right now, then they were going to be in serious danger of being overrun.

"Oh, shit..." Lee mumbled to himself. "This is not good..."

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 **That cliffhanger! I bet ya'll are thinking "Assassin, you can't end the chapter like this!". Like I said in the author's note above, if we can get 10 reviews on this chapter, I'll post the next one tomorrow. Until then, stay tuned for chapter 5.**


	5. Chapter 5: escaping Howe's

**The Walking Dead: The Decimation of Mankind**

 **Chapter 5: escaping Howe's**

 **What up, everyone, Assassin here and here's the next chapter as promised. I checked the reviews and was surprised to see that a lot of them were left by the same guest reviewer. Not what I expected, but nevertheless, it's still more than 10 reviews. Here's the chapter, enjoy.**

* * *

Lee poke his head around the corner of the car he was taking cover behind and fired a few rounds from his Glock 17, but each round missed. All it did was cause them to duck back in cover again. Every second they wasted fighting this group the walkers were getting closer.

The leader of the factions was going frustrated just sitting here and shouted to one of his men. "You! Get out there and flush them out!"

"No way!" he refused while blind firing towards the building.

"NOW!" the leader ordered, screaming at the top of his lung.

Seeing that he would get killed by his leader if he didn't cooperate, the man picked up his AK-47 and slowly marched towards Lee, all while shooting towards him. Despite being in the open, Bonnie was unable to get a shot due to the rest of the group firing her way.

Lee kept his head down but was unaware that someone was heading his way. If he leaned up, he would get shot, but he stayed down, then that man would eventually get to him and shoot him. If he was going to think of an idea to get out of this situation, then he would have to think fast, otherwise he was doomed.

After a moment of thinking, Lee was out of ideas and had no choice but to engage first. He gripped his pistol and took a deep breath, preparing to fire. The man was now only a few feet away. As Lee prepared to jump up and fired, he stopped himself when a sniper shot echoed throughout the air.

Lee arched and eyebrow and leaned out of cover to see the man who was marching his way was now lying motionlessly on the ground, blood spilling from his skull. Lee looked up towards the roof and smiled in relief to see Clementine standing on the roof, armed with a sniper rifle.

Despite the fact he told her to protect Sarah and AJ just in case things went bad, he never felt more relieved to see her face. She saved his life yet again. Now only the leader and one of his henchmen remained.

The other henchman was beginning to panic as he struggled to reload a clip into his pistol. The worst fears began to race around his mind that caused him to panic further by the minute. "We're fucked! I'm getting out of here! I'm not dying here, not today!"

He jumped up and began running away from Howe's, desperate to escape despite being out in the open and vulnerable to gun fire.

"Hey, get back here!" the leader ordered, but his yells did not work. If it weren't for this firefight, he would have shot him himself. "Fucking pussy!"

On the roof of Howe's, Mike picked up a pair of binoculars and kept his head down while keeping an eye on the man who was running into the distance. "One of them is getting away!"

"I got him." Clementine assured as she held the rifle up and closed one eye, aiming through the scope. She did not have much experience using a rifle and thought using one would knock her down, but she was handling herself well without much effort.

Once she got a clear aim on the running man, she fired and in seconds, he fell down onto his stomach. Only the leader remained, but Clementine was too focused on the walkers in the distance that left her alarmed. She lowered her rifle and his eyes widened. "Oh, shoot."

"I see them too." Mike agreed, beckoning for Clementine to follow him back downstairs. "Come on, we got to move, now!"

The leader of the faction reloaded his AK-47 and stood up, firing aimless towards both Bonnie and Lee, but he was unable to get a clear shot on either of them. He screamed out threats while he continued to shoot in their direction. "Fuck you all! I'll take you all down myself! Fuck you! Fuck you! FUCK YOU!"

Lee looked up and noticed a small group of walkers were approaching the man who was completely unaware of the danger behind him due to the amount of gunfire. There were a lot more walkers, but fortunately, they were quite far away to be a major danger yet.

"Fuck you! I ain't dying!" the leader shouted while he finally ceased fire to reload. Now that the gunfire had died down, the leader heard the familiar sounds of walker groans behind him. He swiftly turned away and whacked one walker down with his gun, but the rest of them gripped onto his arms and pinned him down to the ground. "NO! NO! AHHHHHHH!"

He screamed out in agony as the walkers ripped open his stomach with their bare hands and proceeded to eat his intestines. The fight was over between the two groups and now they had to leave right now before things got bad.

Lee stood out of cover and fired a few rounds to take down the small group of walkers while they were too busy devouring the man. Now that they were dead, he quickly ran back inside of Howe's where they joined the others.

He knelt down and hugged Clementine in a quick embrace. Lee leaned back and placed both of his hands upon her shoulders, looking into her golden eyes. "Good shot, Clementine."

Sarah was holding AJ and standing next to Mike. Luke appeared from the next room while he had one of his hands pressed up against his shoulder. This left the group to grow concerned and raised curious eyebrows.

"Bonnie." Luke called out while he held his hand against his bleeding shoulder. "I, uh, got a problem here."

"Oh, no." Bonnie gasped slightly and proceeded to go and help him. She escorted him to a chair and sat him down. "What happened? You weren't bit, were you?"

"No, no, no, I got shot." Luke explained as Bonnie helped him take off his shirt to take a look at his wound. "Hurts pretty badly. Being shot in the leg and the shoulder isn't fun."

Bonnie expected his sound and tried her bust not to hurt him further, but she had no choice if she wanted to inspect his wound further. "The bullet went straight through. We should be able to stich this up and bandage it when we're on the road."

While Bonnie attended to Luke, Lee ran back outside and looked off to the distance. The horde of walkers was heading directly for them. In around 5 minute's tops, they were going to overrun them. They had to get out of here now before it was too late!

"Fuck, we got to move!" Lee shouted while running back towards them for assistance. "Quick! Quick!"

Mike was quick to enter the truck in the driver's seat and attempted to start the engine, but when he turned the keys into the ignition, the engine only rattled in response. "Oh, you've got to be kidding me."

"No! No!" Lee yelled, placing his hands upon the sides of his head. "Fuck!"

"Lee, those walkers are coming!" Bonnie stated the obvious.

Lee quickly reloaded another clip into his pistol and began to issue out orders to everyone. They had no time to waste and had to get a move on, for the sake of survival. "Mike, get that car started no matter what! Clementine, help Mike out. Sarah, watch AJ. Bonnie, Luke, with me! We'll try slowing them down. Go!"

Everyone dispersed into separate directions to follow out their issued orders. Lee, Bonnie and Luke ran outside to slow down the walkers; Mike tried to get the truck working with Clementine's assistance. Sarah got into the truck via the front seat with AJ sleeping in her arms. Thank the Lord he had no idea what was going on.

A small group of the walkers were already upon them and headed straight towards them. They groaned as they limped towards the three humans, desperate for a tasty human meal. This was going to be a challenge with just the three of them holding them back.

Lee picked up an AK-47 that was just resting on the floor and swiftly picked it up. He picked it up and fired almost all of the rounds, taking down a group of walkers heading their way.

There were a lot more of them heading their way though, mainly from the north of them rather than the east or west. Lee fired more rounds towards the walker coming from the sides. This way they had an escape route rather than just being cut off.

Luke decapitated a walker's head with his machete.

Bonnie kicked a walker in its leg to bring it down before crushed its head with the butt of her gun.

Meanwhile, Mike and Clementine desperately tried to get the truck started as fast as possible. Mike fooled around with the engine while Clementine sat in the driver's seat and would turn the ignition every time Mike asked her too. So far they were getting nowhere.

"Come on!" Mike shouted, leaning back out from the engine. "Clementine, try it now!"

Clementine turned the keys in the ignition, but the engine only rattled in response. "No good!"

"Shit!" Mike cursed, slamming his fist down onto the engine.

Sarah was looking extremely nervous and watched through the windshield of the truck as the walkers moved towards them. She felt like crying again and pleading for her father like when she was trapped in the trailer, but for the sake of AJ and the others, she remained calm and took a few breaths.

Lee backed away and whacked his gun against another walker, knocking it to the ground. He backed away with Bonnie as they continued shooting the closest walkers, but regardless of how much they tried, they just kept coming from the north.

After messing around with the engine a few more times, Mike jumped into the driver's seat and turned the keys into the ignition a few times, but the engine continued to rattle in response. "Come on! Start! Start, you piece of shit!" he continued to turn the keys, but the engine refused to start. Finally losing his usual calm attitude, Mike screamed out and whacked his fist against the dashboard. His angered expression turned into a happy one when the engine roared to life. "Ha-ha!"

"Mike, you did it!" Sarah praised.

"Yeah, I did!" Mike replied, but there no time for celebration. "Clementine, get in the truck!"

Clementine jumped into the backseat of truck as Mike drove outside. He honked the horn a few times to gain the other's attention while Clementine opened the back door and beckoned for them to come in.

"Get in!" Mike ordered, honking the horn a few more times.

"Bonnie, time to go!" Lee replied, patting her shoulder a couple of times. However, before they left, he noticed Luke was not with them. "Where's Luke?"

Bonnie turned around and saw Luke taking down a few walkers with his machete a few feet away.

Luke took out his Glock 17 and shot down the advancing walkers, but due to the amount of gunfire, he was completely unaware of a single walker sneaking up behind him.

"Luke!" Bonnie screeched in an attempt to warn him.

Despite the gunfire, he heard Bonnie screaming his name and swiftly turned around just in the nick of time when the walker almost took a bite out of him. He grabbed onto the walker's shoulders and wrestled with it to prevent it from biting him. "Fuck! Shit!"

Bonnie lifted her AK-47 and lined up a shot at the walker trying to attack Luke. She closed one eye while trying to fast, knowing this was a risky move she was making. She pulled the trigger and fired and a second later, the walker collapsed down and blood was smeared across Luke's face.

Luke panted and quickly ran towards the others towards the truck just as the walkers were closing in on their position. Lee, Bonnie and Luke jumped into the back of the truck and once the door was closed, Mike stepped on the gas and drove away from Howe's and onto the main road.

The group looked back towards the walkers as they were invading the inside of Howe's. Everyone sighed in relief and took a moment to rest after everything that had just happened. They were extremely lucky to have made it out from Howe's unscathed. With the exception of Luke being shot, everyone was fine.

"Jesus, that was close." Bonnie sighed, leaning back in the seat.

"You don't have to tell me twice." Lee agreed, rubbing his hands through his hair. "Mike, drive for ten minutes, then we need to pull over."

"Why?" Mike inquired while he kept his eyes locked on the road.

"Luke needs to get his wound stitched up, and we should switch seats." Lee answered as he tried to get comfortable. "In case you didn't notice, we're all a bit cramped here. Clementine and Sarah should get in the back with Bonnie and Luke. You and I will ride shotgun."

Mike seemed satisfied with that answer and continued to drive through the open road.

A few minutes later, the group pulled over like Lee instructed and exited the vehicle. While everyone else kept watch, Bonnie got what was left of their medical supplies and began to sew Luke's wound back together. She tried her best not to her him, but it was difficult.

"Shit, that hurts." Luke groaned, but he was relieved to feel the pain easing.

"Quick crying." Bonnie ordered as she grabbed some bandages and wrapped them around his wound.

Lee stood on top of the truck and kept an eye out for any walkers in the area, but everything seemed peaceful so far. He looked towards Clementine, who was studying the area with a Glock 17 in her hand. "Clementine?"

Clementine turned towards Lee and looked up. "Yes?"

"...Good shot, sweet pea." Lee praised with a smile.

"Thanks Lee." Clementine thanked with a nod.

"I didn't know you could use a rifle, Clem." Sarah spoke up while she was still taking care of AJ who was sleeping in her arms. "It was so cool."

"How did you know how to use a rifle, Clem?" Lee inquired as he jumped down from the truck. "I don't remember teaching you that."

"You didn't, I just acted on instinct really." Clementine explained, shrugging her shoulders in response. "I thought it would be time to learn when I grow up more."

Lee seemed satisfied with that answer and decided to go and check on the others. Luke finished putting his shirt and holster back on now that his injury was attended to. Now that they get moving and try to make as much progress as possible before the weather turned dark.

"Let's get going, everyone." Lee announced while climbing into the driver's seat.

Everyone got into the truck and was able to all squeeze in. Lee and Mike sat in the front while Clementine, Sarah, Luke and Bonnie all sat in the back. They were still a little bit cramped, but it was better than walking.

"If we can, we might be able to find a better vehicle." Luke suggested as the truck began to move down the road.

"Maybe a truck or an RV." Lee agreed. He checked his rear-view mirror to see they still had all that extra gas in the back for them to use in case they ran out. Maybe they could even scavenge some more cars from any vehicles they came across along the way.

Now that they were on the road, it was time to make a plan. Mike located the map of the area in the glove box and checked for anything useful they could find on their way south.

"You still thinking about Mexico?" Lee asked Mike.

"You mentioned we'd call that'd be a back-up plan in case we didn't find anywhere to fortify." Mike responded while opening up a bottle of water. "Let's just see where we get to first."

Lee nodded and continued driving down the highway in search of that one place that existed out there. That one place that would forever keep them safe from the walkers and bad people for the rest of their lives. They had to keep moving no matter what.

It was their only chance for survival now.

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 **And that's chapter 5, ladies and gentlemen. The group of survivors are on their road again and have allowed Howe's to be taken over by the walkers. Stay tuned for chapter 6.**


	6. Chapter 6: the RV

**The Walking Dead: The Decimation of Mankind**

 **Chapter 6: the RV**

 **Hey everyone, Assassin here. Before we begin today's chapter, this is going to be the last update for a week or two. I am currently busy with some important work that I have to focus my attention on. I do love writing this stories, but I have to put my work as my priority first. I'm sure you all understand. In the meantime, enjoy the chapter.**

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Two days. Two long days the small group had been moving south in search of their dream fortress and so far, they had found nothing, but that did not mean that they were going to give up hope just yet. Nothing much had happened during their journey south. Nothing important anyway.

Lee, who was driving the truck, was forced to slow down when he noticed some obstacles in their way. On the road were a few deserted vehicles scattered across the road that were blocking their way. There was no way to drive around them either and no alternative road.

Lee stepped out of the car and looked ahead for any walkers, but no sign of the undead so far. He grabbed his Glock 17 though just in case things went bad.

"We got plan here?" Luke inquired as he stepped outside to, along with the others.

"We'll have to push them out the way, otherwise we're going nowhere." Lee answered, placing his hand over his eyes for a better view ahead. He could not see much from this position.

Bonnie climbed on top of the truck with a pair of binoculars and looked through them. She too did not see any walkers, but what she did see was something useful that caused her to whistle in delight. "Lee, there's an RV up ahead and it doesn't look like it's in bad shape. It might still work."

"Really?" Lee questioned, accepting the binoculars from Bonnie to take a look himself. He studied the RV from a distance and it looked very similar to the one they had at the motor inn. "It's right at the end too. Why don't half of us go check it out and the other half stay here?"

"Sounds good." Luke agreed.

Before they decided on who was going where, Sarah ran forward towards Lee and caught his attention. "Lee. Can I go with you too?"

Lee arched an eyebrow at first, but then he smiled lightly. "Sure Sarah, you can come and check it out. Just stay close to us, okay?"

"Okay, I can do that!" Sarah agreed, but then she remembered to not get as enthusiastic as usual. "Do I need a gun?"

"I don't think so, it looks pretty clear." Lee reassured. He turned back towards the others before walking away himself. "Clem, Sarah and I will go and check out that truck. You guys stay here and guard the truck. All of our stuff is in there."

"You got it, Lee." Luke agreed with a nod.

Lee returned the nod and proceeded to lead Clementine and Sarah towards the RV. As he passed each car, Lee noticed some of them had some dead bodies in the driver's seat, or at least they looked like they were dead anyway. Walkers had been known to sleep sometimes. Just to be certain, Lee opened up every car with an occupied corpse and stabbed them once in the head with a hatchet.

You can never be too careful nowadays.

After dispatching every corpse he could find, Lee approached the RV via the side door and prepared to open it while holding his trust hatchet. With one strong pull, the RV door opened and out dropped a corpse that would have knocked Lee down had he not moved out of the way in time.

"Shit!" Lee cursed, jumping back in surprise. He kicked the corpse a few times to make certain it was dead. When it did not move, he took it on the cue to move inside with Clementine following closely behind him with her Glock 17.

Lee carefully searched every part of the RV for any trouble, but everything looked clear. There was another room in the RV at the back which Lee assumed was a bedroom. He cautiously snuck towards it and knocked on the door a few times. This way if a walker was in there, he would know.

When nothing responded for the other side, Lee opened the door and raised his hatchet, expecting company, but to his relief, the room was clear and looked quite nice. It was a small place to sleep with only one bed. Now that it was declared safe, Lee proceeded to the front of the RV and climbed into the driver's seat.

"Does it work, Lee?" Sarah inquired as she took a seat beside him in the passenger seat.

"I hope so, Sarah." Lee replied while searching the RV for the keys. He thought he was going to have to high wire it, but then he located the keys in the compartment above him and turned them into the ignition to see if it worked.

Unlike the truck, the RV engine roared to life in a matter of seconds, but then it got cut off again. From where he remembered from Kenny is that the RV powers of a battery and without it, the RV is not going anywhere.

"Did it break?" Clementine inquired.

"No, I think the battery needs to be changed." Lee explained as he jumped out from the driver's seat and proceeded to look around for an extra one. "Stay here. I'll go and see if I can find one."

Clementine nodded and sat in the driver's seat with Sarah. All they could do for now was keep watch for any walkers and wait until Lee got the RV working. That's if he could get it working.

While Lee and the girls checked out the RV, Bonnie remained in the truck with AJ while Luke and Mike kept watch. Mike was standing in front of the RV with his arms crossed while Luke had decided to go and search some of those vehicles for anything useful.

Luke eventually returned from scavenging the cars, holding a guitar in his hand. He joined Mike nearby and set the guitar down near the truck. "I think Sarah might like this guitar. Carlos use to mention that she took guitar lessons before all this began."

"I'm sure she'll like it, Luke." Mike replied while he was looking around the area, expecting trouble of some sort. Nevertheless, he kept a cool head and scanned the area.

"I also found these." Luke announced, holding up a small medical kit. "Could help if any of us get hurt again."

"As long as it's not a walker bite." Mike responded, but his statement was more than obvious. A walker bite could not be cured under any circumstances.

At one point, the group of three looked up when they noticed Lee had returned from the RV and by the look across his face, he has success with getting the RV working. Bonnie stepped out of the truck with AJ sleeping in her arms as Lee approached them with the good news.

"It works?" Bonnie asked.

"Yep." Lee nodded and looked up towards the sky. "It's probably going to get dark soon. We should get our things and get moving-"

Lee was cut off from his sentience when the group heard rustling coming from nearby. He was quick to raise his Glock 17 while Luke and Mike raised their AK-47's and prepared to fire. They waited a moment or so to locate the source of the sound in the trees and bushes.

A moment later, a figure emerged from the bushes and into open sight, but it certainly no walker. The group looked somewhat surprised and slowly lowered their weapons as the figure approached them.

Lee was the first to speak after everyone else was silent in shock. "Jane?"

That's right; the familiar face was no other than Jane; a former member of Howe's and a former member of their group. She left a while ago without saying goodbye to the group (with the exception of Lee). What were the odds of seeing her ever again? Then again, what were the odds of finding Lilly last time?

"Hey everyone." Jane greeted and gave a friendly yet awkward wave.

"You're back?" Luke stated the obvious. He certainly seemed happy to see her again.

"I was passing by when I thought I heard you guys over here." Jane explained as she rubbed one hand against her arm. "I never thought I'd say this, but I'm glad to see you guys again. Is everyone still here? Where are Clementine, Sarah, Carley and Rebecca?"

"They're in that RV over there." Lee answered, nodding his head towards the mentioned vehicle. "...But Carley didn't make it. Neither did Rebecca."

"Oh...I'm sorry to hear that." Jane merely nodded in response to acknowledge that answer and gave her condolences. Then there was another awkward silence moment which the group were somewhat getting annoyed by. Did Jane just drop by just to say a quick hello before leaving again?

"So, I take it you're going again?" Bonnie assumed. She did not wish to sound mean and had no intention of being rude.

"Actually, I've been doing some serious thinking while I've been gone and I was wondering if I could join you guys again." Jane requested which left the group a little surprised. She usually preferred being alone as she believed people would turn on each other in this world for survival of the fittest.

"You want to stay with us?" Lee inquired to make certain he heard correctly.

"That's what I said." Jane repeated. "I know I was acting like a lone wolves and I have my reasons for that. I always assumed that all groups in this world eventually turn on each other, but I was wrong. Not you guys. You all stuck together no matter what and helped one another whenever possible. You're all a family together and I don't want to keep running alone. I want to and make it work with you guys. What do you think?"

There was another awkward moment of silence for the group as they needed a bit of time to process all of this. Lee turned towards the others, but neither of them had a responded. They did not look like they had any problem allowing Jane to join them again and thought it was a possibility to let her join again.

Lee came his own decision. He turned back towards Jane and offered her a smile. "You're always welcome back with us, Jane."

Jane raised a smile herself which was quite rare for people to see. "Thank you, Lee. I think we should get going. I think it gets dark soon."

"Amen to that." Lee agreed as they proceeded back towards the group to get their supplies.

The group proceeded to grab all of their supplies and boarded the RV where there was much more room than the truck. Thank the Lord they found this RV; otherwise Jane would have had no room to get in unless she wanted to sit on the back of the truck.

Clementine exchanged seats with Lee and was about to go and sit by the table, but then her eyes widened when she noticed a familiar face. "Jane?"

"Hey Clementine." Jane greeted with a nod. She actually felt happy to see the little girl again.

"You're back?" Sarah joined in as she walked beside Clementine.

"That's right, and for good this time." Jane reassured them. She knelt down to Clementine's height and to the young girl's surprise; she placed her hands upon her shoulders. "I'm glad to see you again, Clem. I knew you would still be alive."

Clementine felt a little awkward at first on how to respond, but she smiled and then nodded. "Thanks Jane."

After using one of their jerry cans to fill up the RV gas, the group all took a seat in the RV and off they went down the road to continue their journey to the south.

Rather than their usual silent trip, everyone was actually speaking and socializing for once, and not just about walkers, but about their old lives before the apocalypse, just like when they were gathered around a fire at that power station they stayed it once where they celebrated Luke's birthday.

Lee was still driving with Jane sitting beside him. Luke went into the bedroom in the back to rest up since his leg was still hurting from when he was shot, Clementine, Sarah and Bonnie were playing guards together while seated at the table and Mike was taking care of AJ. A good thing they still had baby formula to feed him.

"So Wellington was full to let anyone else in?" Jane concluded the story Lee was telling her.

"That's right." Lee confirmed with a nod. He turned back towards the others for a second but then turned back to face the road. "Clementine, Sarah and AJ were offered to stay in though. They didn't want to stay with people they didn't now and leave me. At first, I was a little mad but then I realized that they did the right thing. They look up to me as their father."

"They should, Lee, you're a great person to be with." Jane reassured him while she leaned back and crossed her arms together. "I haven't known you for long, but I've seen you do a lot of great things. You took a beating from Carver to protect us all, you showed me to care for others again rather than just myself, and you kept everyone safe no matter what."

"Not everyone." Lee reminded with a look of sadness across his face.

"I'm sorry, Lee, I know it's hard." Jane replied. She felt rather pushy of this next question, but she needed to know. "Lee, if you don't mind me asking...What happened to Carley and Rebecca?"

Lee remained silent for a moment and tried to prevent himself from crying. He missed Carley so much and would give anything to see her one more time. "We headed north but a group of Russians attacked us. They mentioned that you tried to take that kid Arvo's supplies."

Jane sighed as she felt a wave of guilt over here. She held her hands to her face. "Oh shit...It's my fault...It's all my fucking fault."

"It wasn't." Lee reassured which without a doubt left her surprised. "They were going to attack us regardless. All you did was piss them off some more. Truth be told, they deserved it."

Jane was certainly surprised to Lee's reaction, but she remained silent from this point and allowed Lee to continue his story.

"We got into an argument and threatened each other when Rebecca had died from blood loss, exhaustion and the cold. I had to shoot her because she came back and then everyone fired. I got shot, Mike got shot, and Luke got shot. We were able to win, but Carley got shot. It all happened so fast."

"...I'm sorry, Lee." Jane apologized. Despite Lee's reassurance, she still felt guilty. "Carley was a good person, she didn't deserve to die."

"No...She didn't." Lee agreed while he kept his eyes locked on the road.

Clementine, Sarah and Bonnie were all playing a game of Poker together. Bonnie didn't think kids of their age knew how to play, but she was surprised when they had a game together with some cards they found.

Sarah placed her cards down when it came to showing their cards to see who won. "I got a Three of a Kind."

"Full House." Bonnie declared, placing her cards down with a satisfied smile. "I think I win this time."

"I don't think so, Bonnie." Clementine replied with a grin. She revealed her cards next. "Four of a Kind."

Bonnie looked a little surprised and then smiled. "Clementine, I swear you're cheating."

"Hey, you gave me this jacket." Clementine reminded with smile. He opened her hand up and beckoned for her reward. "Come on, where's my reward?"

Bonnie looked a little disappointed for what they agreed. Since Clementine won, Bonnie had to give up her candy bar which was a Mars Bar. While they had plenty of supplies (including candy) this was the last Mars Bar, Bonnie's favorite candy. "Fine. Here, a deal's a deal."

Clementine accepted her reward and opened it up. However, rather than eating it, she split it in half and offered one half to Bonnie.

Bonnie smiled in response and accepted one half of the Mars Bars. "Thank you, Clem."

"Let's play Chase the Ace this time!" Sarah suggested as she grabbed the cards and shuffled them.

As the group continued to entertain themselves for a while, the night sky eventually took over and everyone needed some rest for the night. Since there was only one bed (which Luke was sleeping in) everyone got comfortable on the chairs and even on the ground.

Rather than driving at night when it was dangerous as they could not see where they were going, even with headlights turned on. Lee pulled the RV over and parked with the side door against a tree to prevent someone from sneaking in. He locked the driver's and passenger's doors and placed some curtains over the windows and windshield.

Now that they were safe for the night, Lee leaned back in his seat and got a good night's rest. No-one knew how long they had left to go to find that place of safety, but as long as they stuck together, they would find it no matter what.

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 **And that's the end of this chapter, ladies and gentlemen. The group have switched into an RV and Jane is back with the group again, and this time, she is willing to give it a try to stay with a group once and for all. Stay tuned for the next chapter, but as mentioned above, I will be busy.**


	7. Chapter 7: fallen

**The Walking Dead: The Decimation of Mankind**

 **Chapter 7: fallen**

 **Hey everyone, I'm back. Wow it feels like forever since I last updated my story.,ya'll miss me? I know it's been a little late and I still have work to do, but not as much now. Enjoy chapter 7, folks.**

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After night had passed and the sun gave daylight and clear vision, the group of eight continued their journey south. Since Lee had been the driver after they left Howe's, Mike drove for a while with Lee sitting in the passenger, coordinating their journey on the road for any places they could check out.

"Here's a place." Lee announced, tapping his finger against the map. "I think it's a small town. Only a couple of buildings, but we might be able to find something there."

"We'll check it out." Mike agreed as he kept his eyes focused on the road.

While Lee and Mike lead the way, Clementine and Luke were playing another game of cards together. Bonnie was taking care of AJ and Jane was with Sarah, who was testing out her new guitar Luke had got her for the previous day.

Now that Jane was with them again, she tried communicating with Sarah who she saved while they were at the observation deck.

"So, you play the guitar?" Jane spoke out of the blue. This was going to take some time, but she felt like she made some progress with Lee the previous night.

"Only a little." Sarah admitted as she attempted to play it, but it had been so long since she last saw one. "I don't think I remember how to play it."

Jane however, knew how to play the guitar perfect. She borrowed the guitar from Sarah and began to play a slow tune. All of the group noticed this and listened intently. Whoever knew Jane could play an instrument so well? Especially in this day and age.

After playing for a moment or two, Jane gave Sarah her guitar back.

"Wow that was so cool." Sarah complimented with a smile. "Do you think you could give me some guitar lessons some time?"

Jane nodded in response with a slight smile. "Sure thing. When we find somewhere safe, I'll teach you everything there is to playing a guitar? Sound good."

"I'd like that." Sarah agreed with a nod.

Lee could not help but smile in amazement to Jane's contributes so far. She really was serious about wanting to be with people and finally getting the chance to bond rather than acting like a lone wolf all the time. Nevertheless, Lee was curious to see what other surprises she would throw at him.

"Got any threes?" Luke asked Clementine while they were playing a game of Go Fish together.

Before Clementine could answer, Lee quickly shouted a warning after they turned around a corner they could not see beyond. "OH SHIT! Hang on!"

The RV came to a screeching halt and everyone gripped onto something the best they could. Fortunately, no-one was injured. The only exception to this was AJ who began to cry hysterically. Bonnie quickly shushed him before his cries would attract any unwanted attention.

Clementine proceeded to the front of the RV to investigate why they had suddenly stopped. "What happened?"

"That happened." Mike responded, his eyes locked onto the danger ahead.

Down the road were a few more cars scattered across the area and blocking their way, but that was not the only problem. A group of walkers were also roaming the area too, roaming around in search of nothing as perusal. There was no way to get around them.

"Well, looks like we got to clear them out." Lee announced as he went to go and pick up and AK-47 until Luke stopped him.

"Lee, what if there are more of them?" Luke asked the obvious with a slight nervous expression across his face.

Lee knew more than obvious that sound attracted walkers and that's why they wouldn't waste ammunition if there were only a couple of them, but there was a whole group of them out there to take down silently. "Luke, you can't be serious. There's too many to take on with melee weapons."

"Lee, you did fight through a horde of walkers not too long ago." Clementine reminded her guardian. Although she tried to forget that day since she could have lost her guardian, but now seemed like a good time to bring it up.

"Say what?" Mike asked with a slightly shock face.

Lee just ignored them and proceeded to take out his hatchet. "It's going to be tough, guys if you want to do it this way."

"We got this." Luke assured as he took out his machete and prepared to fight for survival.

Mike took out his small sledgehammer and Jane took out her scratch awl, preparing to help.

Lee nodded and turned back to the others. "Bonnie, stay here and protect Clem, Sarah, AJ and the RV. Don't come outside under any circumstances, okay? We'll handle this in no time."

"You got it, Lee." Bonnie agreed with a nod.

Lee turned to the others and beckoned for them to follow him. "Let's go."

Lee, Luke, Mike and Jane exited the RV with Bonnie shutting the door behind them. Everyone prepared to fight and began to approach the car wreck on the road where the walkers did not seem to be aware of their presence yet.

"Jane, bring them over here." Lee ordered while getting a better grip on his weapon.

Jane jumped on top of one of the cars and whistled to get their attention. "Hey, assholes! Over here!"

The walkers turned towards the source of the sound and slowly began to march towards them while growling and snarling in desperation for a fresh tasty meal. As they were getting closer, everyone split up rather than staying together. This way, the walkers would spread out too rather than overpowering them from one direction. "Come on, motherfuckers!"

Lee got the first kill and slammed his hatchet directly into the walker's brain. He pushed it away and proceeded to kick another one down as it approached him.

Mike uses his strength to kick a walker down and proceeded to crush it's skull with his own foot. He raised his sledge hammer and whacked them directly across the face as they approached him from the sides.

Jane remained at the top of the car where they could not reach her yet. She knelt down and proceeded to stab them all one by one.

As for Luke, he was not doing as well as the others. He began to back away as the walkers moved in towards him. He decapitated a couple of walkers that moved in towards him, but they were approaching him from the front and the side.

Luke panicked when a single walker snuck up behind him and attempted to take a bite out of his arm, but fortunately, he was able to push it away and kick it before it could succeeded. He noticed more of them coming and was now beginning to regret this idea. "Shit."

Running out of options, Luke climbed into a car and closed the door, trapping himself inside. The walkers all gathered around the car and attempted to force themselves inside by slamming themselves against the windows. If one of them were to break, Luke would surely die.

Nearby, the others almost finished taking of walkers their way, but Jane was the first to notice a missing member of their group. She looked around and located Luke trapped in a car with walkers surrounding him. "Oh, shit! Luke's in trouble!"

Lee took a quick glimpse before he slammed his hatchet into the walker. "Jane, go help him!"

Jane nodded and jumped from car to car to go and help Luke before they got to him. She landed on a car right next to them and quickly caught their attention. "Hey! Over here!"

A few of the walkers surrounding Luke noticed a new target and proceeded to ignore Luke and go after her instead. Jane knelt down and stabbed them one by one as they tried to grab her from below.

Mike slammed his sledgehammer into one more walker, but in the process, he lost his grip and dropped his weapon which landed under a car. "Fuck!" he cursed as another walker proceeded towards him.

As Mike backed away, he looked towards the car beside him and noticed the door was open, giving him an idea. When the walker was close enough, it grabbed onto Mike and attempted to bite him. Mike wrestled with it for a moment before throwing the walker down into the car and then closing the door to crush its head.

Mike did this a few times to make certain it was dead. He located his sledgehammer under a car and went to go and help Lee deal with the last walkers in the area.

Meanwhile, Luke had walkers trying to get to him from the passenger side, but on the driver's seat, he noticed that the walkers from there had left to go and deal with Jane. Taking this opportunity before he got overwhelmed again, Luke exited the car and began to help Jane out by attacking the walkers attacking her.

Lee and Mike ran over to them a few seconds later and dispatched the last of the walkers. Now the road was clear of walkers and only the cars remained in the way. Everyone took the opportunity to catch a couple of breaths and make sure no-one was injured.

"Everyone all right?" Lee inquired, placing his weapon into the back of his pants.

"We're good." Luke assured, slightly shocked to his near death experience. It was almost as bad as the time he fell through a frozen lake and almost died.

"We got 'em." Jane stated the obvious as she jumped down from the car and joined the others.

"Now we just need to move these cars out the way." Lee suggested, but that might be a problem considering how many there were. "Luke, Jane, Mike, come and help me move them."

"Actually, I was going to take a look around the area." Mike declined with his arms crossed. "You know, see if there's any more walkers anywhere."

Lee arched an eyebrow in response. They could use Mike's help with moving the cars, but he had a good point about checking the area for more walkers. "You sure you want to go on your own?"

"I'm sure." Mike assured with a nod. "I'll take a gun with me just in case. If there's trouble, I'll come running back."

"No, I don't like that." Lee replied. Going alone in this day and age was risky. He debated on who to send with Mike and as much as he did not want to do it, he thought about sending Clementine. She handled herself well last time when she went with Jane to the observation deck. "Take Clementine with you, for safety. We can't be too careful."

"All right." Mike agreed as he proceeded back towards the RV, his sledgehammer in one hand.

As Mike walked away, the trio got to work on moving these cars out the way. Lee was able to put the car in neutral and he pushed from the driver's seat while Luke and Jane pushed the car from the back. They continued doing so until it was off the road and out of their way.

"Well, that's one." Lee announced the obvious while wiping the sweat from his forehead.

"Around twenty more to go." Jane stated the bad news that earned her a funny look from Lee and Luke. She shrugged in confusion. "What? I'm just saying."

Luke just shrugged it off and got back to the matter at hand. "Let's just get back to work."

While Lee, Luke and Jane were taking care of the road block situation, Clementine and Mike were walking around the area together to scout for any walkers or maybe even something useful. Mike kept his sledgehammer ready while Clementine had a Glock 17 with her in case they ran into further trouble.

"Any reason why we're out here exactly?" Clementine inquired as they stepped over a log.

"Just keeping an eye out for any trouble. That and I wanted to go for a walk." Mike admitted with a slight grin across his face. "Don't tell no-one."

"Your secret's safe with me, Mike." Clementine assured with a nod.

Mike continued to lead the way into no specific destination until he heard rustling in a nearby tree. He placed his hand out towards Clementine as a signal for them to stop. Clementine nodded and aimed her gun towards the bush, preparing for trouble.

A couple of seconds later, there was no walkers or humans in the bush. A raccoon came running out of the bush and stared towards the two humans for a moment.

"It's a raccoon." Clementine announced as she lowered her weapon. "Just like the one we saw at the museum."

"I'm still hungry for raccoon." Mike admitted, placing his hands to his hips while trying to debate his next plan of action.

"Why? We got plenty of food back at the RV." Clementine reminded him. Part of the reason she did not want to catch the raccoon is because she wanted it to escape.

"I know, but all that's snacks and munches." Mike countered. He prepared to make a move. "Wouldn't you like a nice cooked dinner for once? I certainly would."

Clementine raised her eyebrows and looked somewhat skeptical about this plan, but nevertheless, as long as they did not attract any unwanted attention, then why not? Like Mike said: a cooked dinner would nice to enjoy indeed. "All right. As long as it doesn't case too much trouble."

"A raccoon? No problem." Mike reassured. He slowly began to approach raccoon while it was too busy eating something to notice them.

As they got close, Clementine accidentally stepped on a twig that caused a noise quite load to the raccoon just as Mike almost got to him. The raccoon ran away and Mike leaped forward in an attempt to grab it, but he missed and landed face first onto the ground.

Clementine could not help but laugh as Mike got up and the two chased after the raccoon. They bushed past a bush where the raccoon had ran through and eventually found their way out in an open area. However, before they continued running, Clementine and Mike froze in their steps and their eyes widened in fear.

They never expected to see a grizzly bear standing a few feet in front of them, feasting on the raccoon they were just eating. Now they were in trouble. Bears were extremely dangerous animals and were more than capable of running as fast as a horse if they needed to.

Since the bear was too busy feasting to notice them yet, Clementine and Mike slowly backed away as quiet as they could.

"Whatever you do, don't make a sound." Mike warned in a whispering tone.

The duo continued to back away until they were now quite a good distance away from the bear, but it was still within their sights. Just when they thought they were in the clear, the bear looked up and noticed new prey dead ahead. Without a second's hesitation, the bear began to charge their way.

"OH SHIT!" Mike screamed as he pushed Clementine forward while running. "GO! GO!"

Clementine panicked and took out her Glock 17. She fired a few rounds towards the bear, but since she was not looking back, she was unable to aim properly and just shot in random places.

"FUCK!" Mike screamed as they continued running from the woods, but the bear was catching up fast and it would be upon them in no time. The RV was not that far away and they had to get there fast.

Meanwhile, Lee, Luke and Jane continued pushing cars out of the way for the RV to advance through later. Now only two cars remained. However, right as they were about to continue moving cars, a few gun shots were fired. The source of the gun shots sounded like they from where Clementine and Mike went to which left the worst thoughts racing around Lee's mind.

"Clementine! Mike!" Lee shouted as he ran towards the RV, Luke and Jane following closely. He called out to Bonnie who was standing on top of the RV to keep guard. "Bonnie! See anything!?"

Bonnie looked through a pair of binoculars towards the woods where Clementine and Mike went through. With all the trees in the way, it made it difficult to see, but a moment later, she spotted a glimpse. "I can't see-wait, there they are! Holy shit! Grab a gun, now!"

Lee did not hesitate to obey and quickly caught the AK-47 Bonnie threw to him. He ran into the woods and spotted Clementine and Mike running their way with a 900 pound grizzly bear following them. "Fuck me...Get down!"

Clementine quickly moved out the way, but Mike was running out of breath and was forced to slow down despite the energy boost from the adrenaline.

"MIKE!" Lee warned, screaming at the top of his lungs.

Mike spun around and screamed as the bear lifted his gigantic paw and clawed Mike's torso. The bear then proceeded to whack him out the way and prepared to maul on the injured man.

The bear prepared to feast but felt incredible sharp pains in his stomach when Lee fired all of his AK-47 rounds, unloading every last bullet available. Clementine helped too and fired all of her Glock 17 rounds. Bears were tough to kill and hopefully these bullets would be another to bring it down before it hurt anyone else.

The grizzly bear cried out in pain and took a few stepped back before succumbing to his wounds and dying a slow death.

Lee dropped his rifle and quickly ran towards the injured Mike who was barely conscious and had a three claw mark across his chest. "Mike! Shit!"

Bonnie and the rest of the group joined them. She panicked as she knelt down to Mike and attempted to inspect his wound. "Mike! Jesus Christ, he got beat up bad!"

"Is he going to be okay?!" Lee asked. He tried to keep his voice down, but after this just happened, how could he remain calm.

"I...I don't know...I..." Bonnie stuttered with tears beginning to fill up in her eyes. "Look, just help me get him into the RV. It's too dangerous to be out here!"

Before Lee helped his friend, he noticed a single walker approaching them from the road. Frustrated with the injury of his friend, Lee wanted to take his danger out on someone and who better than a walker.

"Fuck this!" Lee growled as he took out his Glock 17 and aimed it at the walker approaching them. "I'm tired of making no noise!"

"Lee, no!" Luke warned.

Lee pulled the trigger and fired, taking down the walker with a single shot. He clearly was not thinking straight for a moment and had to get his act together.

"Lee!" Luke scolded, but right now his priority was on Mike. "Just help me with Mike."

Lee nodded and helped Luke pick Mike up. He was quite heavy than he looked, but they were not just going to sit back and let their friend die. They lost too many people already and out of all the ways to die in this world where the dead have taken over, getting killed by a bear was one of the worst ways to go.

After getting Mike into the RV, Lee, Luke and Jane were quick to move the remaining cars out of the way until the road was finally clear enough for them to continue moving. The second they were free, everyone boarded the RV and Lee was quick to jump into the driver's seat and pressed his foot against the gas, speeding off down the main road.

Everyone prayed that Mike was not fatally wounded and could recover with the medical supplies they had. How they wished they had Carlos with them still. All they could do was try their best and pray for his survival.

* * *

 **And that was chapter 7, folks. Mike tried to chase a raccoon, but has now been serious injured by a bear. Let's hope that his injuries are not fatal and he will recover. I'll work on getting chapter 8 to you guys and gals soon.**


	8. Chapter 8: dark path

**The Walking Dead: The Decimation of Mankind**

 **Chapter 8: dark path**

 **Hey everyone, how's it going? Having a good weekend? I know I am. Here's the next chapter of this story. And great news, Telltale have announced their next Walking Dead game: "The Walking Dead Michonne". Now it's not season 3 obviously, but I think this will be a great game considering that Michonne is one of the best characters on the show. Let's see how it goes, but until then, enjoy the chapter.**

* * *

The group was silent as they continued their journey towards the south. Everyone was more than obvious to be worrying about Mike who was currently in the bedroom in the back with Bonnie attending to him the best she could. She may know a few things or two, but she was no doctor and was doing the best she could.

Lee focused on the road while he was driving with Clementine sitting beside him in silence. No-one was sure what to say to one another, it was like there were sitting in a church.

Finally, the bedroom door opened and out came Bonnie with a look of sadness yet relief across her face. Everyone with the exception of Lee, who was driving, gathered around her, eager to hear the news of their friend. Hopefully it was not the bad news they were expecting.

"How is he?" Luke inquired.

"The injuries the bear gave him weren't fatal, thank God." Bonnie answered in a relived tone. The others sighed in relief too and could now relax without worry. "He may have a big claw scar across his torso, but he's going to be fine. He'll just be resting for a few days before he can go out there again."

"Right." Lee nodded and proceeded to continue driving them south in search of that safe zone. "We better get a move on then."

Everyone got to their own activities for a while with Lee driving and Luke directing them with a map. Now that they knew Mike was going to be okay, no-on had to worry anymore and could put their minds at ease. This here was another sign why they had to be more careful in the future.

Lee was extremely worried out of them all. He could not imagine what would have happened if that bear had got Clementine rather than Mike. He probably would have...No; he wouldn't have gone that far. He was just grateful that both of them survived and that they were going to be fine.

As the sun prepared to tuck away for today and allow the night to do its job, Lee was about to pull over for them to rest for a while, but instead, his eyes widened slightly when he spotted a man walking towards the RV, waving his hands as if he were telling Lee to stop.

Luke noticed this too and grabbed his Glock 17 just in case. "Shit, is that someone on the road?"

"Looks like it." Lee replied as he proceeded to get up and go investigate in case this turned out to be a trap. "Come on, we'll go and check it out. Sarah, stay here and watch AJ. We won't be long."

Sarah nodded and took a hold of AJ who was sleeping already. Once everyone else was outside the RV, Lee closed the door behind them and prepared to take out his Glock 17 in case things went bad.

Lee had his Glock 17, Bonnie had an AK-47, Luke had a Glock 17 along with his machete, Clementine was unarmed and Jane had her knife and scratch awl. The man continued coming closer until he was in sight. He looked average age and was wearing a camouflage hoodie and pants with his hood over his face.

"Hey there." he greeted a little bit too friendly.

"Hey." Lee returned the greeting, but he was prepared for the worse. He had his hand at the back of his pants just in case. "What do you want?"

"Just wondering if ya'll could help me." he requested with his hands placed at his hips.

"Help with that exactly?" Luke asked with an eyebrow raised. He too had the feeling something was going to go wrong, but all he could do at this point was wait and see.

"Nothing much." the man assured with a nod. "All we want is your RV, your guns, and everything else you have."

Now this confirmed the man was trying to rob them. Lee swiftly took out his Glock 17 and aimed it at the man, but he was too late. Another four more men had emerged out of nowhere and took aim at the others with Glock 17's and one crossbow; quickly disarming them before they had the chance to even blink.

Lee turned around to see what was happening and realized he was outgunned. While he was not paying attention, the man he was aiming at had snatched the pistol out from his hands and aimed it at him.

"My, my, how the tables have turned." the man said with an evil grin across his face. "Now gentlemen, let's get to work, shall we."

The other men laughed as they moved in on the others. Two of them knocked their guns against Luke's face, knocking him to the ground as they proceeded to kick him and beat him down. One of them grabbed Jane and pushed her to the ground, pinning her down while the last one forced Clementine and Bonnie on their knees with their hands behind the back of their head.

The man laughed and pushed Lee down onto his news while holding his own pistol against him. "It's hard to trust people nowadays, isn't it? Now, let me tell you what's going to happen. I hope you don't mind spoilers. First, we're going to beat that guy to death, then we're going to rape the one in the yellow, then we're going to kill the ginger one, then the girl, and then last, we'll kill you. Sounds like a good plan, don't you think?"

Despite being held at gunpoint, Lee wanted nothing more than to hurt these people for what they did. If it weren't for his friends being in danger, he would've killed every last one of these sick bastards with his bare hands. "Let them go!"

"Let them go? Good one!" the man laughed in response and continued to hold Lee at gunpoint, preventing him from making a move.

Luke attempted to get up at a couple of times, but the two men continued to beat him down. He could not even grab onto his machete. The man attacking Jane pinned her down and was trying to pull down her pants in an attempt to rape her.

At one point, Bonnie attempted to grab onto the man that was holding her at gunpoint's gun, but he punched her across her face and knocked her back down. While he was distracted, Clementine attempted to grab him, but he pushed her back and kicked her in the face.

Lee witnessed this and was now more than angry. Nobody touched Clementine and got away with it as long as he lived. Finally losing his breaking point, Lee swiftly spun around and punched the man directly across his face, causing him to lose balance for a couple of seconds. As he lost balance, he simultaneously fired his gun right next to Lee's ear, causing a loud, pitched ringing in his hearing.

As Lee stood up and held onto his ringing ear, he attempted to punch the man again, but this time, the man pistol-whipped Lee across the face, causing him to fall back down.

"You motherfucker." the man grumbled as he gripped Lee by his neck and forced him back onto his feet. He slammed Lee against the RV and choked him with one hand while holding his Glock 17 against his head with the other. "Bad fucking mistake, you motherfucker!"

"I'm going to kill every last one of you!" Lee hissed as he kicked the man, but it did nothing but anger him more.

"Oh, yeah!?" the man snapped, calling his threat to be a bluff. He merely laughed in response. "What are you going to do about it then?"

As if he asked for his own downfall, Lee opened his jaw the most he could and bit onto the man's fingers, biting two of them off with his own teeth. The man screamed as he released Lee and clutched onto his bleeding fingers.

"AHHH!" he screamed in agony, falling down onto his knees. "My fingers! He bit off my fucking fingers!"

The other bandits looked shocked and were distracted from what they were supposed to be doing after witnessing their leader cry out like that. Taking the opportunity while they had their guard lowered, Bonnie gripped onto the man's gun a second time and forced it back towards him, shooting him directly through the jaw and skull.

Jane took out her knife and stabbed the man who was trying to rape her directly through the neck. She groaned as his lifeless corpse collapsed onto her and pushed him off.

Luke took out his machete and stabbed one of the men attacking him, stabbing him through the chest. Now only one henchman remained. He took out his revolver and aimed it at the others, but they could tell he was beginning to panic and did not know what to do to get himself out of this situation.

"Get back! Get back!" he warned, aiming his weapon at all of them. "I'll shoot!"

Lee, however, called his bluff. He picked up his Glock 17 and shot him through the brain without a second' hesitation. He turned back towards the leader, who continued to cry out in agony as he tried to stop the bleeding through his fingers. How the tables had turned towards him out of his favor.

"Motherfucker!" Lee growled as he picked him down and proceeded to beat him to death with his Glock 17, smashing his face in pieces.

After the others helped everyone else out, the group watched as Lee continued to beat down the man despite the fact he was more than dead by now. None of them dared interfered and continued to watch. Clementine was shaken up by this terrifying event and was comforted in a hug by Bonnie.

Lee finally finished beating down the man's corpses and stood up in exhaustion. Blood was smeared all across his face and clothes, but right now, he did not have a care in the world. Now that it was over, he finally took the opportunity to see what had happened.

The others were probably scared of him right now, and truth be told, Lee would not blame them. He was worried for them and did what he had to in order for survival. In this world, it's fight or die from now on, otherwise he'll lose everyone he has left with him.

"Lee..." Clementine whispered slightly. She had never witnessed him do anything this brutal and was beginning to get worried for his sanity.

Lee looked down towards the man whose face had been bashed in so much that you wouldn't even recognize him anymore. He did not want Clementine or anyone else to witness what he had done.

"Just go, Clementine." Lee told her while he had his back turned to her. "You don't want to see this."

Slowly, everyone else dispersed back into the RV, taking the bandit's weapons in the process. Lee remained outside for a man and sat down with his back against the RV with his hands placed against his face, thinking about the events that had just occurred. When he killed that man, he felt a monster inside of him that had been unleashed.

He had not felt like that since he caught his ex-wife cheating on him with that state senator. How he beat him to death with his bare hands. He never meant to go that far, he just let his anger get the best of him and had no control of himself. He thought he'd never have to go that far again for as long as he lived.

Hopefully everyone would understand what he did rather than fearing him from now on like he was a monster worse than the walkers.

* * *

When morning had arrived, the group made haste to continue their journey to the south. This time, Luke was driving with Jane giving him directions. Clementine was seated with Sarah and Bonnie at the table while Lee sat in the corner of the RV, sitting with his knees near his face.

At one point, Bonnie approached him with a bottle of water and a cloth since he sustained a couple of bruises last night when he got into a fight with the bandit leader. "Lee. Here, I thought you'd need this."

"Thanks." Lee thanked and accepted the water and cloth. He poured some water onto the cloth and rubbed it against his face where he still had some blood smeared across his face.

"How are you feeling anyway?" Bonnie inquired as she knelt down to him in concern.

"I don't know how I feel, Bonnie." Lee admitted, shaking his head in confusion. "What I did last night-"

"Lee." Bonnie cut him off and caught his attention. "What you DID last night saved us all. If you hadn't done what you did, we all would have been dead. We owe you our lives, Lee."

"I just wish it could have been handled better, that's all." Lee explained. He felt incredible disgust in himself. "I bit his fingers off, for fuck's sake."

"Listen to me, Lee; in this world that we're in, we have to do what it takes to survive." Bonnie reassured him. "No-one here is mad at you or scared of you, I promise. Just take some time to rest up. We need each other, Lee, especially now."

Lee nodded and processed everything that Bonnie had just said to him. It helped a little, but in time, he would recover fully. "Thanks Bonnie."

Bonnie nodded in return and proceeded to go and take care of AJ for a while and feed him with their baby formula.

Now that he was feeling better, Lee stood up and approached the front of RV with Luke and Jane, making simple conversation with them. "Hey. How's it going up here?"

"So far, so good." Jane answered as she kept her eyes focused on the map to avoid them making a wrong turn somewhere. "Luke, do a left at this next road."

"I'm on it." Luke assured, calming turning the RV to the next road. He had never learned how to drive before the apocalypse began but he had taken lessons from his father a few years back and so far, those skills were turning out to be useful.

"Anything on the map that looks promising?" Lee asked Jane.

"We're thinking of heading this way down here." Jane answered, tapping her finger against the mentioned area. "Looks promising to me."

"We'll check it out." Lee agreed with a nod. He offered Luke to rest for a while and he would take over. "Luke, why don't you take a break? I'll drive."

"Sure thing." Luke agreed. Truth is, he was worried about crashing and destroying their only means of transportation. He got out the driver's seat and swapped places with Lee.

Lee sat down and began to drive towards south. He tried to keep his mind off of what happened the previous night. If the group were not mad or afraid at him for his actions, then why couldn't he stop thinking about it? He hoped he could take his mind off it somehow.

Lee dazed out from his thoughts when he heard Jane calling his name. "Huh? Oh, sorry. What did you say, Jane?"

"I said make a left on that turn you just past." Jane repeated with a somewhat annoyed expression.

"Oh." Lee nodded as he turned the RV around. "Sorry about that."

"You okay?" Jane inquired in a concerned tone. She immediately figured out what was wrong just by looking at him. "Let me guess: is about it last night."

"You read my mind." Lee answered as he shook his head a second time. "Last night as like I was a whole different person. I was like an animal out there. I bet off that guy's fingers like a walker."

"Lee, you saved us last night." Jane assured, repeating somewhat similar words as Bonnie moments ago. "This world has made all of us do some crazy shit. I wouldn't blame you for what you did. One of those fuckers tried to rape me, for fuck's sake. Look, we find that somewhere safe and then we can finally put all this bullshit behind us. We can start again."

"I hope so, Jane." Lee agreed. For now, all he wanted to do was drive in silence for a moment and hope to put last night's events behind him like Jane suggested. It may be difficult, but in this world, it's fight for survival against humans and walkers no matter the circumstances.

* * *

 **I think it's safe to say that this was certainly a dark chapter. Lee's dark side was brought out in this episode and forced him to use deadly and brutal means to survive. Let's hope that he will not have to repeat the events that happened on this chapter. Chapter 9 coming soon.**


	9. Chapter 9: trouble follows

**The Walking Dead: The Decimation of Mankind**

 **Chapter 9: trouble follows.**

 **Yo, yo, it's me, your friendly neighborhood Assassin. Here's chapter 9 and not much to say on this chapter, other than enjoy the chapter.**

* * *

The next day during late afternoon, the group continued their journey to the south in search of their new home. Everyone with the exception of Mike and AJ were awake and were keeping themselves occupied during the ride since sitting in an RV for a while can be quite boring.

Bonnie checked their supplies to see how much food and drink they had left. They were good on food, but they had only one bottle of water. "Lee, we're low on water."

"We don't have anything else to drink?" Lee asked. Despite having stocked up food, they needed water too otherwise they were going to dehydrated.

"Nope, just one bottle of water left and some formula for AJ." Bonnie answered as she placed their supplies back into the bag.

Luke, who was looking at the map, noticed something interesting that may be the answer to their problem. "There's a river not too far from here. We could get water from there."

Lee seemed to agree with that plan and nodded as he prepared to pull over. "Sounds good, but we'll need to boil it first before we can drink it."

"I have my lighter if that helps." Clementine spoke up from nearby.

"Then it's settled." Lee replied. He pulled over onto the side of the road when he made certain no walkers were around the area, or worse, more bandits. He turned off the engine and walked outside the others.

Bonnie volunteered herself to stay behind and watch AJ, Mike and the RV. "I'll stay here with Jane. Ya'll go ahead, but don't be too long."

"We won't." Lee assured as he grabbed a couple of weapons for them to use. He, Clementine and Luke took a Glock 17 while Sarah armed herself with a revolver. "Come on; let's get going."

The group of four made their way towards river through the woods. Along the way, everything seemed clear so far but they had to be cautious just in case walkers were to somehow sneak upon them. With all these trees and bushes, it was somewhat difficult to see.

"I think I can see the river." Sarah spoke up, pointing towards the mentioned area.

Lee placed his hand over his eyes to block out the sun and could see a glimpse of the river. "That's great. Come on."

The four of them proceeded towards the river and made haste to gather some water. Lee and Clementine took out their empty water bottles and began to fill them up. They would boil the water where they got back to the RV to make it safe to drink.

As the finished filling up water, the group jumped slightly in fear when the all familiar sounds of the walkers were heard nearby. A few walkers emerged from the way they came and limped towards the four humans, groaning with blood dripping from their bodies.

"It's only a few of them." Luke assured as he took out his machete. "We'll handle it."

Lee nodded and took his hatchet while the girls stood back and allowed the men to take care of the walkers. One by one, each walker fell and it looked like they were in the clear. However, the danger was not over yet. More walkers emerged out from the trees and ambushed the group, forcing the group to separate.

Lee and Clementine moved to one side with four walkers moving upon them while Luke and Sarah moved the opposite way with three walkers moving towards them.

"Oh, shit!" Lee cursed as he raised his hatched and struck a walker directly in the brain, pushing it aside.

Clementine, realizing she was going to shoot now, took out her Glock 17 and prepared to fire. She pulled the trigger and took down two walkers, but she never expected another walker to sneak up on her. She attempted to shoot it, but it lunged forward towards her and knocked her down, causing her to drop her gun.

"Clementine!" Lee shouted as he killed one more walker, but in the process, he got his hatchet stuck in the walker's head and attempted to retrieve it. "Oh, shit!"

Lee was about to retrieve his hatchet from the now dead walker, but one more of them ambushed him. He grabbed onto the walker and wrestled with it as it tried to take a bite out of him. Now he was in danger. Unless he thought of something soon, both he and Clementine were going to die.

Clementine desperately attempted to crawl back to safety, but the walker was slowly crawling towards her, desperate to bite. At one point, it grabbed her ankle and tried to pull itself up, but she kicked it back before it could bite her.

Clementine picked up a rock and threw it at the walker crawling towards her. Her gun was too far for her to reach it in time.

Running out of time, Lee punched the walker once and then flipped it to the ground by kicking his foot against its ankle and breaking it out of place. Now that it was on the ground an crippled, Lee stomped onto it's head and crushed it's brain, finally killing it.

He had no time to celebrate yet. He swiftly sprinted towards Clementine who was now pinned under the walker. She had her foot placed against the walker's chest to prevent it from getting any closer. Lee grabbed the walker and dragged it away. He wrestled it to the ground and crushed it's brain by stomping on it a few times.

Lee panted as he took the time to recover for a moment along with Clementine. Despite saving themselves, Luke and Sarah were forced to go deeper into the woods due to the amount of walkers. He quickly retrieved his hatchet and ran with Clementine to go and find them.

Luke backed away while standing in front of Sarah in a protective manner. Three walkers were apprehending them and were desperate for a fresh human meal. When one of them got close, Luke raised his machete and decapitated the walker's head, leaving only two remaining.

He prepared to finish the other two of, but as luck would have it, another walker appeared out of nowhere and almost took a bite out of Luke. In the process, he was forced to drop his machete in order to stop the walker from biting him. The walker wrestled him to the ground, forcing him to use all his might to fight it.

"Luke!" Sarah screeched as she took out her revolver and remembered Lee's training. She fired all six of her round, but due to her panic and inexperience with a gun, she only managed to hit them in their torsos.

"Sarah!" Luke shouted. He groaned as he pushed the walker back. "Get out of here!"

The remaining two walkers were focused on Sarah, completely ignoring Luke.

Sarah picked up Luke's machete and back away as the two walkers moved on in her. If she continued going without making a move soon, than she was going to be cornered with no-one out.

Taking a deep breath, Sarah raised Luke's machete and stabbed one of the walker's directly in its skull, killing it with that one blow. However, in the process, she got Luke's machete stuck in its head. She attempted to pull it lose as the second walker was moving towards her.

With one good pull, Sarah got Luke's machete free but now the walker had lunged himself forward in an attempt to bite her. On instinct, Sarah placed the machete out and allowed the walker to meet its doom when it landed head first onto the machete that went through it's brain.

Saran sighed in relief and took a few breaths to calm her nerves down, but then she realized her friend was still in danger. She quickly ran back towards Luke who still continued to fight off the walker that was pinning him down.

When Sarah got close, she stabbed the machete through the walker's brain without hesitation, killing it just as it was about to take a bite out of Luke. She dropped the machete and helped Luke roll the now dead walker off of him and allowed him to stand up.

Luke panted as he stood up and kicked the walker a couple of times to make certain it was dead. After that, he and Sarah shared a hug, both relieved to see the other safe.

"Luke, you're okay." Sarah breathed in relief and struggled to hold back tears.

"Sarah, you saved my life." Luke expressed his gratitude as they released their embrace. He knelt down to her height and placed a hand upon her shoulder. "Good job, Sarah. Thank you."

Sarah nodded in response with a small smile. She was finally beginning to learn how to take care of herself in this world and was getting stronger by the day.

"Luke! Sarah!"

The duo turned around when Lee and Clementine came sprinting over to them (Lee was the one who called their names). The four of them were now reunited and they all looked relieved and happy to see one another alive and well.

"You guys all right?" Clementine inquired, but once she noticed the dead walkers, she assumed they were fine.

"We're fine." Luke reassured while catching his breath back. That was twice now he came close to death. First at the frozen lake, and now here. Unless they picked up their act in the future, someone else was going to die. "Sarah saved my life?"

Lee and Clementine appeared to be slightly surprised and turned towards the teenaged girl. "Really?" the asked simultaneously.

"Yep." Sarah nodded.

"Good job, Sarah." Lee praised. This proved that his teachings were beginning to pay off.

Luke retrieved his machete out from the dead walker and placed it back into his holster. "Come on, ya'll, let's get back to the RV."

The four of them proceeded to make their way back to Bonnie and the others, but neither one of them appeared to remember that they were forgetting something important. That was until Luke reminded them.

"Hey, did you get the water?" Luke inquired with a curious eyebrow raised.

That's when Lee stopped his steps when the realization hit in him in the face. "Whoops."

After going back and retrieving their water from the river, the group of four found their way out of the woods and joined Bonnie and Jane who were guarding the RV until they returned. The both looked worried, possibly due to the gunshots that were fired by Clementine and Sarah.

"Are ya'll all right?" Bonnie inquired. She wanted to run after them when she heard the gunshots, but she had to remain here to guard the RV. "I thought I heard gunshots."

"We got jumped by some walkers when we got the water." Lee explained as he set down the bottles of water. "We handled it now, thanks to Clementine and Sarah."

"Really?" Bonnie grinned and placed a hand to her hip. "Well, I'm glad to see ya'll are safe."

"I'll go with Luke to get some wood." Lee suggested as he grabbed an AK-47 for an extra precaution this time. "Do you have a pot to boil the water in?"

"There's one in the RV." Bonnie answered, nodding her head back towards the mentioned vehicle.

"We won't be long." Lee assured. He and Luke took out their weapons and proceeded to fetch some wood for them to burn.

Since they might be here for a little while longer, everyone decided to settle in for a while. Bonnie climbed onto the top of the RV to keep watch for a while. Clementine and Sarah sat inside the RV for a while with AJ who was sleeping in a small box they used for him as a crib. Jane kept watch from outside, causally walking around the area with her arms crossed.

At one point, Clementine quietly snuck into the bedroom to check on Mike. The older man was in the bed resting for his injuries. His grey hoodie was torn up slightly due to bear's attack and he had bandages preserved around him to keep him stable until they could find proper medical help. At least he was still breathing.

Not wanting to disturb him, Clementine quietly closed the bedroom door and sat back down at the table with Sarah.

"Is Mike okay?" Sarah inquired. She liked Mike as a friend and did not want him to die from his injuries.

"He's okay." Clementine reassured her older friend. "It might take a while before he gets better again, but I'm sure he will be better in no time."

"That's good." Sarah agreed.

A couple of moments later, Lee and Luke returned, holding some wood and rocks for them to build a fire to boil their water and maybe keep them warm for tonight. They been on the road for a long time now and they could do with a rest from sitting in a moving vehicle all the time.

"We're back." Lee announced, dropping the wood down in an area they could light the fire.

Lee and Luke set down the wood and rocks until they were done. Now all they needed was an actual fire. Clementine came outside from the RV and took out her butterfly lighter.

"I got it." Clementine assured as she clicked the lighter a few times until the fire lit. It was hard to believe it still worked, especially after falling into an freezing cold water at that frozen lake. She placed her lighter near the wood until the wood lit up in flames and got a nice fire started.

"Good job, Clem." Lee praised as he went inside the RV to get the pot. He returned a moment later and set it down next to the fire.

Everyone grabbed the bottles full of river water they found and tipped it all into the pot until there was not a drop left in any of the bottles. Now that it was full, Lee proceeded to place the pot on top of the fire and they all they had to do was wait patiently until the water was boiled and any harmful effects in the water was destroyed.

* * *

As the sun began to disappear and the night arrived, the group gathered around the fire for the night. After eating some food to keep their hunger level low and their energy high. Now they were sitting around the fire to keep them warm for a while until it was time to go again.

Right now, Jane was telling the group a funny incident that happened to her as a kid. "When it was my turn to get up while I was waiting for the doctor, my left leg had completely fallen asleep on me. As I stood up, I lost feeling in my leg and fall over face first onto the ground."

This got a good laugh out of everyone.

"I bet it was embarrassing." Clementine spoke up with a smile.

"Damn right." Jane agreed with a smile in return. "Anyone else got a funny incident to tell?"

Lee raised his hand as if he were in a classroom asking for permission. "I got one. When I was a kid, I always had trouble getting of bed because I was always too lazy. My mom came into my room one day and decided to play a tuba right in my ear. I literally jumped out of my bed. I swear I went deaf in my ear."

The others chuckled in response. Now it was Luke's turn to tell a funny story.

"When Nick and I started our own pawn shop business, we were carrying some fridge inside or shop that someone wanted to sell. It was going well, and then Nick lost his grip and dropped his side of the fridge onto his foot. He screamed like a girl and jumped around while holding his foot like a cartoon character."

While it did not seem that funny since Nick could have broken his foot, everyone laughed hysterically for a moment. How they missed Nick and the others. The only good thing about their friends being gone was that they could finally be at peace and were probably together in Heaven with their friends and family.

Jane or Mike had never got the chance to meet Nick, but from what they told them about him, they probably would have liked to have met him along with his uncle Pete and Alvin too. How they wished there was a way to go back in time and prevent them from dying. It was all Carver's fault they were dead. They never felt so relieved when Lee had killed him.

Before long when the fire began to die out, the group got their supplies and hoped back into the RV where it would be safe to sleep for tonight rather than outside. However, just to be safe, Lee drove a couple of miles down the road in case any walkers or people stumbled upon their previous fire.

When all was clear, Lee parked the RV and everyone got to sleep for the day, secretly hoping they could find somewhere permanently safe soon.

* * *

 **And that's chapter 9, folks. How much longer will the group keep coming close to death and getting away from it unscathed? Their luck won't hold out forever. Stay tuned for chapter 10.**


	10. Chapter 10: Valford

**The Walking Dead: The Decimation of Mankind**

 **Chapter 10: Valford**

 **We're back with chapter 10. I've almost finish my course in college and then I can have a lot of free time, but unfortunately, this story does not have that much longer to go. In the meantime, enjoy the chapter.**

* * *

Lee woke up early morning in the driver's seat and checked the time on his still working watch to see it was 9:00 am. Everyone was still asleep, but unfortunately, he needed to wake someone up to help guild. He couldn't drive and look at a map at the same time, unless he wanted to risk crashing.

What kind of idiot would do that?

 _ **(Ahem, Lori Grimes, ahem)**_

He turned towards Jane who was sleeping in the driver's seat beside him. He placed his hand upon her shoulder and began to gently shake her awake. "Jane? Jane, wake up."

"Huh." Jane awoke from her slumber and rubbed her eye for a moment before yawning. "Morning already?"

"That's right." Lee confirmed with a nod. "Sorry to wake you, but I want to get a move on and I need someone to guide me."

Jane seemed to understand and located the map inside the glove box. Once she was fully awake, Lee turned the keys into the ignition and the engine roared to life.

"What I would give for a cup of coffee." Jane wished as she rubbed her eyes one more time before concentrating on the map. "We're still in South Carolina. If we keep going the way we're going now, we might end up going to Savannah. I wouldn't want to go in a city."

Lee's eyes widened for a moment when the familiar name of Savannah was mentioned. That was the same city where they lost Chuck, the same city where Lee had to fight that girl in the red hoodie, the same city where they parted ways with Kenny, Katjaa, Duck, Omid and Christa. The same city where the stranger confronted them with Clementine's undead parents with their arms and mouth cut off.

"Lee, you okay?" Jane inquired when she noticed he looked like he had gone off into his own world.

"Huh. Oh, I'm fine." Lee assured as he concentrated on the road before he crashed. "It's just that Savannah was the city where Clementine's parents died."

Jane seemed to understand now. "Oh. I'm sorry. I bet it was hard on her."

"It was, but it got worse." Lee replied. He thought it was best Jane know the story of what happened since they brought it up now. "Our friend Kenny wanted to find a boat, thinking it would be a safe plan. The boat wasn't big enough for all of us, so Clementine, Carley and I stayed behind. Right as they left, we were confronted by this person. He had Clementine's parents as walkers with their mouths and arms cut off."

"Jesus." Jane sighed. She met her fair share of monsters in this day and age, but what kind of person would do that? "What a fucking monster? The walkers-I mean Clementine's parents didn't attack him?"

"No, they didn't." Lee responded. He too was confused by that, but eventually figured it out. "With their arms and mouths cut off, I think that tamed them, stopped them from wanting to bite and attack. I thought you knew that?"

"I did, but I always made walkers walk with their backs turn to me. I figured they'd still attack with their arms if they could see me." Jane assumed as he leaned back in her chair and sighed. "What happened? Who was he?"

"A couple of weeks before we went to Savannah, we came across this station wagon on our way back home. It was filled with food, water, everything we needed to survive. We were out of food, but I didn't want to take part in it, neither did Clementine. The stranger who confronted me...It was his car." Lee explained as he shook his head for a moment in disgust. "He lost his family because of the others taking the stuff. He talked to her on Clementine's walkie-talkie, tricking her into telling everything about us."

Jane remained silent until Lee was finished talking. That's when she decided to speak. "Damn. I'm not sure what to say. Were you mad at her?"

"I wasn't mad, I was worried." Lee answered. He could not forget that day regardless of how many months had passed, or years for that matter. "He tried to kill me and take Clementine away, claiming he could be a better father than I could. Carley shot him when he wasn't looking her way and I strangled him with my own hands."

"The bastard deserved it, Lee." Jane agreed. She knew that in this world there were going to be people who would try to attack them and hurt them in anyway. It's fight or die. "No way could he be a better father then you could. If he couldn't even protect his own family, then he definitely couldn't protect Clementine."

"I know...Thank you, Jane." Lee thanked with a small smile. It felt good to hear here admit that considering she never use to socialize with anyone and keep to herself, but now she was with them and they were a family now.

At that moment, the others were beginning to wake up and Lee beckoned for Jane to mention what they had been talking about. Jane nodded in agreement and acted like they were not doing anything other than driving.

Clementine yawned and approached Lee while rubbing her eyes. "Morning Lee, Jane."

"Morning, sweet pea." Lee greeted, but he kept his eyes locked on the road. "You sleep okay?"

"Yeah, I guess." Clementine replied, but she rubbed her hand against the back of her neck. Sleeping on the couch of an RV was not the most comfortable position in the world, but she managed all right for now.

Lee noticed a sign coming up and just assumed it was one of those direction signs to tell you what state or road you were driving to. However, this sign had a white cloth over the sign with writing across it. He decided to investigate and pulled over at the side of the road.

"Lee, what is it?" Clementine inquired as Lee opened the RV door on his side.

"There's a sign there." Lee answered. He beckoned for the others to follow him. "Come on, let's go and check it out."

Everyone except for Mike exited the RV and approached the sign. Bonnie was cradling AJ in her arms while he still continued to sleep. The group approached the sign and Lee began to read its content to the rest of the group.

""For guaranteed safety, come to Valford, located between interstate 26 and 95. But be warned: we are heavily armed. If you try anything dangerous, you will be met with extreme force."" Lee read the contents and his eyes widened after reading the sign. Could this place finally be the answer to their prayers?

"Lee." Luke spoke up to catch his attention. "What do you think?"

Lee had to think about it for a moment. They had no idea if this place could be dangerous or not, but did they have any other choice? That and who's to say that this place isn't full either? Regardless of what he thought, he decided to hear the others opinion's on this. "I think we should go there. What about the rest of you?"

"I say we got for it too." Bonnie agreed.

Clementine nodded as well. "I think we should go."

Sarah nodded in agreement and remained silent.

Jane looked a little skeptical since she was not sure what this place was like. She was willing to try, but even if she didn't agree, it looked like she was outvoted anyway. "All right, I'm in too."

"And me." Luke joined in with his hand raised.

"Then it's settled." Lee agreed with a nod. He remembered what the sign said for them to know which way they had to go. "Let's back in the RV."

Everyone proceeded back into their working vehicle. Bonnie made a note to where this safe zone was located just in case they forgot. Lee jumped into the driver's seat with Clementine beside him as everyone else took a seat. Everyone looked eager to go and Lee did not keep them waiting and made haste to get going.

"Lee?" Clementine caught his attention while he was driving. Lee turned towards her for a moment. "Is this it? Are we going to find that one place we can settle down without having to worry anymore?"

Lee did not respond for a moment and kept his eyes focused upon the road. He had no idea what the people at Valford were like and capable of, but he had to take a chance, otherwise they were going to just sit in this RV and keep moving to nowhere for the rest of their lives. "We will, Clementine. We will."

Clementine seemed satisfied with that answer and remained silent for the rest of the journey.

Lee had the feeling it would not take them that long to make it to interstate 26 and 95. He did not care how long it took, as long as he could finally get there and put this whole nightmare to an end. He wanted his family to be somewhere safe where they didn't have to fear the outside world anymore or sleep with a gun next to their face.

Valford was their last hope. If that turned out to be a disappointment too, then Lee had no idea what they were going to do next.

* * *

A couple of hours later, the group had finally made it to interstate 26. Now everyone was keeping their eye out for Valford. Lee kept his eyes out too but at the same time, trying to keep his eyes on the road just in case they crashed into something, or worse, someone.

Everything was quiet so far. That was until Clementine looked out her side and spotted something. "I see something! Lee, turn right!"

Lee did that and turned around the next corner, approaching what looked like a small structure in the distance, but when they get closer, it revealed to be a huge wall surrounding the entire area. It wasn't as big as the one Wellington had, but it was still fairly large and looked like it was made of strong steel.

"We made it." Lee smiled as he slowed down the RV near the front gate.

Lee looked out of his window and noticed a man standing on a lookout tower just outside of the gate. He turned off the engine and exited the RV. "Wait here for a moment. I'll go talk to him."

Lee walked towards the gate where the guard above noticed him. He was wearing camouflage clothing and was armed with an M4A1. Lee waved to catch his attention. "Hey."

"Hey." the guard greeted in return. "Welcome to Valford. May I ask your name please?"

"I'm Lee. Lee Everett." Lee introduced himself to the man. He nodded his head back towards the RV. "There are seven more of us back there, including two kids and a baby."

"All right. Let me just speak to the boss." the man said as he picked up a walkie-talkie and spoke. "Sir, there's some new people at the gate. They look harmless; they have kids and a baby. There are eight of them, should I let them in...Okay, will do."

By now, the rest of the group had exited the RV and walked outside. Mike was still inside the RV, but if this place had a doctor, then he'd be back onto his feet in no time.

The guard placed his walkie-talkie down and called out to Lee. "All right, the boss says I can let you in. Just get back in your RV and drive on in. The boss will meet you in there. If you have any weapons, please hand them when told."

"Will do." Lee nodded as he beckoned for everyone to get back inside the RV.

"Open the gate!" the guard called out once Lee and his group were back inside their vehicle.

The metal gate opened and Lee slowly drove the RV inside, but when Valford came into view, everyone's eyes widened in shock yet excitement. The place was like a small neighborhood with nice houses and a couple of other buildings too like a weapons store and a small hospital. Maybe this is what Wellington would have looked like, but better.

"Pinch me, I'm dreaming." Luke requested while he looked like he was about to faint. He felt a sharp pain in his arm for a moment and yelped out. "OW! Jane!"

"You said, "pinch me"." Jane reminded with a small smile.

Lee chuckled for a moment, but then he noticed some more guards beckoning for him to drive somewhere and then stop. He did as they requested and pulled over before getting outside of the RV to meet with the people.

A bald man who looked around in his late 40's while wearing a blue polo shirt with black suit pants walked forward to meet Lee. He offered him a hand shake and talked in friendly tone. "Hi there, my name is Axel Jackson; I'm in charge of Valford here. Welcome."

"Nice to meet you. I'm Lee Everett." Lee introduced himself and accepted his handshake. "These are my people. This is Clementine, Sarah, Luke, Bonnie, Jane and AJ. We have another man in the RV, but he's serious injured and needs medical attention."

"He...He wasn't bitten, was he?" Axel inquired with his hands placed upon his hip.

"No, no, he wasn't bit, don't worry." Lee reassured. "Believe it or not, he got attacked by a bear."

"A bear?" Axel repeated, looking somewhat surprised. "Wow. It's been a while since I saw any live animals around here. We'll send our doctors to take care of him right away. In the meantime, if you have any weapons, I'm going to have to take them into our armory for safety, but I can assure you that you can sign them out anytime you want to go outside."

The group looked somewhat hesitant to do as he asked, but cooperated and followed Axel's instruction. They placed their weapons inside the duffle bag they kept all of the guns in and passed them to one of the guards.

"Thank you." Axel thanked. He could tell they looked like they didn't quite trust them yet. "Don't worry; I know it's hard to trust nowadays. Everyone who has joined our community has been hesitant, but I promise that nothing bad will happen to you and your family here. I use to be a Politician."

Lee had the feeling he could trust Axel. There was just something about him that told Lee he could be trusted.

"Come on." Axel said, beckoning them to follow him. "I'll take you to my office to fill in your names and then we'll find an unoccupied house for all of you to stay at. We'll have a doctor tend to your injured person."

"Sounds good." Lee agreed as they followed him towards one of the smaller homes around the area.

While they were walking, everyone got the chance to observe the area. There was a small park where children were playing with their parents, people were talking to one another like socializing, and everyone seemed to be unaware of the outside world anymore. This place looked great so far.

The group followed Axel into his home where he escorted them into his office. Everyone took any seats that were available and waited patiently as Axel picked up a notebook from his desk and opened it, revealing a list of names along with the houses they were staying at.

Axel placed his glasses on and filled in the house they were staying at before sliding the book and a pen to them. "Sign your names here please. We found your group two available houses that are right next to each other. Each one of them has four bedrooms each."

"Thank you." Lee thanked as he signed his full name before sliding the book to Clementine.

"And if you could fill in the name of your friend who you say is hurt, that'd be great too." Axel requested while he waited patiently for them to finish.

After everyone signed their names in the notebook, Axel placed it back into his desk and told the group to follow him to their new homes. When they sighed in the book, they chose who was going to stay in which house. Lee, Clementine, Sarah and AJ were going to stay in one house while Luke, Bonnie, Jane and Mike were going to stay in the other.

Their new homes were not that far from Axel's home. They arrived moments later and two single separate two stories houses. This was their homes and this is where they were going to stay from now on. This was their home now.

"Well, this is your home." Axel told the group while he had his hands placed in his jeans pocket. "I hope they are to your liking. I would show you around, but unfortunately, duty calls and I have work to do. Feel free to settle in and meet some of the neighbors. You can also check on your friend whenever you like. If you have any problems, don't be afraid to ask."

"Thank you." Lee thanked with a smile. He expressed his gratitude the best he could.

Axel nodded in return before he bid the group farewell and walked away to attend other important business.

Now that they were alone again, the group decided to check out their new homes.

"Well, in we go." Lee spoke up as he approached the front door to their home.

"We'll come over a few minutes." Bonnie spoke up while she, Luke and Jane approached their new home.

Lee took out the key from his pocket that was given to him by Axel and unlocked the front door, slowly opening it and walking inside. The house looked really nice and tidy like Lee's old home. He decided to take a tour around the house before settling in.

There was an average size living room along with an average size kitchen and stairs that led up to the next level. The four of them (including AJ who was being held by Clementine) made their way upstairs and inspected the rooms. There were three bedrooms with double beds in each one along with a bathroom at the end of the hallway.

"Wow." Lee sighed; still surprised that he would actually see a normal house again. He chose his bedroom and jumped onto his new bed, not believing how much he forgot what a comfortable bed felt like. He sighed and placed his hands behind the back of his head.

Clementine chose her room next and this one had a crib inside for AJ. She gently set the young baby down inside while walking towards her bedroom. At her old home, she only had a single bed obviously due to her size. She sat on the new double bed and got comfortable on it for a moment.

In her room too was a TV along with a gaming console. This place had electricity too? To prove that, she turned on the lamp beside her and looked surprised when it turned on. "Wow. Sweet."

Sarah was the last to go into her new bedroom, the last bedroom in the house. She looked around for a moment and happiness filled up inside of her. This bedroom looked very similar to the one she use to sleep in at her old home. There was also a book shelf filled with some books and comics.

"Wow, this is so cool." Sarah spoke to herself as he picked up one of comics and read the title. ""The Walking Dead"? What a weird name for a comic book."

After the three of them stayed in their rooms for a while, they regrouped downstairs in the living room to hear one another's opinions on this place.

"Well, what do you girls think?" Lee asked them with his arms crossed.

Clementine and Sarah looked towards each other before turning back towards Lee with smiles. "We like it here." they spoke simultaneously.

Lee was glad to hear that. "That's great. Come on; we'll get AJ, go check on the others, visit Mike and then we'll look around for a while."

Clementine nodded and walked back upstairs to go and get AJ out from his crib. Once she was downstairs, the four of them exited their home (remembering to lock the door behind them) and proceeded next door to visit the rest of their group and hear their opinion on this community.

* * *

 **Well it seems that the group are finally at somewhere safe. Valford, a place where they can finally settle down after everything that's occurred. For those who watch the show, Valford is like Alexandria. Also, I think I broke the fourth wall a couple of times in this chapter. Whoops. Stay tuned for chapter 11.**


	11. Chapter 11: epilogue

**The Walking Dead: The Decimation of Mankind**

 **Chapter 11: epilogue**

 **Hey everyone, Assassin's Creed Master here with a big announcement that you may want to read before continuing with the story.**

 **This is the final chapter to my new story. I was hoping it would be a little longer to be honest, but truth is, I ran out of ideas so this will serve as the ending of the story. Not only that, but I am retiring from writing now. This is my final story and after this, I will be writing no more. I have dreams that I wish to follow. It's been a good run and I enjoyed being here in the short time I did, and I would like to thank each and everyone of you for sticking with me during my time here. Thank you.**

 **With that being said, for the final time, ladies and gentlemen...**

 **Enjoy the chapter.**

* * *

Now that Lee, Clementine and Sarah were finished checking out their new home, they picked up AJ and proceeded next door to join the rest of their friends and see how they were settling in too. At perfect timing, both half of the groups exited their homes simultaneously and walked to greet one another.

"How's your home?" Lee asked them while placing his hands into his pockets.

"It's great. Better than great, actually." Bonnie answered with a satisfied expression. "How about you four? What's your home like?"

"Nice living room, kitchen, three bedrooms including a crib for AJ and a bathroom." Lee described their home to the others. "Everything works too. This place is like paradise."

"Amen to that." Luke agreed with a nod. He placed his hands upon his hips and looked around for a brief moment. "Any of ya'll up for taking a look around this place?"

"I'm good with that." Lee agreed. After all, if this was their home from now on, then it would be a good idea to get to know the layout of the area. "Let's go."

The reunited group made certain to lock the doors of their home before going to look around the community for a while. Clementine was carrying AJ and for once, she did not have to keep looking over her shoulder to make certain no walkers were going to sneak up behind them.

The community was mostly filled with houses of the same design and layout, but there were some other buildings too. There was a watchtower too to keep an eye out for walkers or bandits that was placed behind the community. That way, they didn't have the worry about no-one sneaking up behind them.

There was an average size one story building that was the medical building for the injured. That was more than likely where Mike was resting from his injuries. Nearby that building was a cafeteria where they could see people eating some real food for once.

"I would kill for a burger right now." Luke admitted while he looked like he was about to pass out.

Lee chuckled and placed a hand upon his shoulder to steady him before they continued looking around. Nearby, they noticed a small park for children too. This made Sarah remember her time with her father. When she was younger, Carlos and his wife Astrid would always take Sarah to the park. How she missed them both.

There was a church nearby where Lee noticed a couple of priests walking inside with some of the Valford residents with them. It was nice to see that people still believed in the good Lord and Heaven along with Hell for the sinners.

The final building they came across was the armory where they kept all of their weapons. Lee looked inside for a brief moment and looked surprised to see how many weapons they owned. Pistols, shotguns, assault rifles, snipers, even RPG's and other explosive weapons. If this place ever came under attack, they were definitely prepared. They weren't kidding when they mentioned on the sign they were armed and dangerous.

Now they were finished looking around the community. That's when the group decided to go and check on Mike to see how he was holding up.

"Let's go and check on Mike." Lee suggested as they approached the small hospital.

Along the way, they came across Axel again who was walking with a different man this time. He was wearing a military outfit along with a military cap, while they could not see his full hair; they could tell his hair was black. He looked around in his late 40's and stood at around six-foot-three.

Axel noticed the new members of their community approaching and decided to introduce them to his second-in-command soon. "Hello again, Lee. How are you and your friends settling in?"

"We're settling in great, thanks." Lee answered with a nod. "We were just on our way to that hospital to check on Mike."

"Of course." Axel nodded, but before they left, he introduced the other military soldier standing next to him. "Lee, I would like you to meet Colonel Redford; my second-in-command and head of security here. He was in charge of the soldiers that were have stationed here. When all this began, the Colonel and I helped one another by building this community."

Lee nodded and offered a hand shake the bigger man. "Please to meet you, Colonel."

"Likewise, son." Redford agreed, accepting his handshake with a firm group. He spoke with a southern accent "I trust you and your companions here will help contribute to Valford if you can?"

"No problem." Lee nodded. It was the least they could do for being allowed to stay in this community. "We all have experience with guns and how to handle walkers or people for that matter."

Redford processed Lee's words and crossed his arms. "Well I'll have to see that in action before I can believe you, Lee, but I'm certain I can take your word for it in time. In Valford, it's all about following the rules here. I'm a man strictly followed to military protocol. Rules are what keep things in order and keep's everyone within these walls safe."

Lee could definitely tell the Colonel was one of those people who truly stuck to the book of the military, but that was a good thing, especially in these times. "I take your word for that, Colonel. One day, some of us should company you outside. Then you can take our word for what we're capable of."

"I agree. That will be for another time though." Redford agreed while he took out a pump-action shotgun from his holster. "Until next time, son." the Colonel walked away and called out to a few of the soldiers who were waiting by a military truck. "MEN! Prepare to move out!"

"Sir, yes, sir!" the marines followed his orders and prepared themselves for a supply run.

The Colonel led his men outside of Valford. Lee watched and somewhat had the feeling it may be a little difficult to work with the Colonel and his trust, but that was for another day. For now, they just wanted to enjoy the peace and quiet while they had it.

"Don't mind the Colonel, Lee. That's just how he is." Axel assured him. "He can act a bit tough sometimes, but he's a good soldier and kept this place safe from outsiders. Well, don't let me keep you. You may go and see your friend."

"Thank you." Lee thanked and proceeded towards the medical building. "Let's go."

Everyone walked inside the hospital, but they had no idea which room Mike was in. That was until someone working there spoke up from reception.

"You must be the new people." he assumed while he grabbed a chart. "Are you looking for a patiently named...Mike? Recently attacked by a bear?"

"Yes, that's him!" Bonnie answered almost a little too excited.

"Mind telling us which room he's in?" Lee requested.

"Certainly. He's in room 141, just down the hallway there." the receptionist instructed. "Go on ahead."

Lee thanked him and their group walked down the hallways until they located room 141. Along the way, they noticed a few more patients in rooms where some of them were hooked up to life support machines. It was safe to say this place definitely had electricity and power.

The group found the room and walked inside to see Mike resting in a medical bed half-awake. He now had proper medical bandages around his stomach until his injuries were healed and he was able to move again.

"Mike." Bonnie greeted as she took a seat beside him. The others stood nearby watching. "How you feeling?"

"Bonnie?" Mike mumbled as he opened his eyes fully to see his friends standing in the same room. He had no idea where they were, this was probably the first time he woke up after the bear incident. "Where are we?"

"We're in Valford, Mike." Lee answered. "This is a safe zone with good people. We even got our own houses to share. You were unconscious for a while."

Mike chuckled for a moment while trying his best to keep his eyes open for a while. "We did it then. We found somewhere safe."

"That's right." Lee confirmed with a nod. "We just came to check on you, Mike. You get some rest and you'll be better in no time."

Mike did not respond. Instead, he closed his eyes and drifted back off to sleep, resting from his injuries. The group quietly made their way out of the room and allowed Mike to rest. Now that their worries were over and they knew he was going to be fine, the group decided to get something to eat from that cafeteria nearby.

"I can't wait for some real food." Lee admitted as they approached the cafeteria desk.

"Hi there." someone who worked behind the desk greeted. "I've never seen you people here before. Can I get you all something to eat?"

"We're new, but we'd love something, thanks." Lee requested while he looked at the menu above. "How does the food here work?"

"People may come here three times a day during the morning, the afternoon and the night to eat." the worker answered in a simple tone.

Now that was settled, the group picked out what food they wanted and sat on a table together outside to eat. They never imagined eating hot food again in this day and age, but none of them were complaining, especially Luke who was almost devouring his burger.

Lee only chuckled as he took a sip of soda. He chose something healthy to eat: a cheese sandwich with salad. He would usually pack this type of food to eat whenever he went to work during lunch time. That reminded me: he had not yet seen a school here. Maybe Axel and the Colonel might consider setting one up if they the time and the room.

After the group were finished eating, they agreed to part ways for the day and do their own activities for a while and then meet up back home. Lee went with Clementine, AJ and Jane while Luke went with Sarah and Bonnie to look around.

Lee was passing some houses until he noticed a woman putting some trash into a trashcan outside.

She looked around his age and her ethnicity looked to be Caucasian-American. She had brown hair and wore a white shirt with blue jeans. "Hi there. You just moved in Valford?"

"That's right." Lee confirmed as he approached the woman. He offered her a handshake. "My name's Lee. This is Clementine, AJ and Jane."

"Please to meet you all. My name's Marlene." Marlene introduced herself to these new strangers. "What a cute little baby. Is he yours?"

With the mention of that question, Lee looked somewhat sad as the memories of Alvin and Rebecca perishing from this world flashed before his eyes. "No, his real parents...Died. We were all together for a long time, but now they're gone. I'm taking care of him now."

Marlene seemed to understand and nodded. "I'm sorry to hear that. I know it's hard to lose the ones you care about. I lost my brothers and sister when all this began. It's just me and my uncle now."

"I'm sorry for your loss." Lee sympathized with her since everyone present had lost someone they loved. "We've all lost someone. I just hope here at Valford, we don't have to put up with any of this shit anymore."

"I've been here for a year now and I can assure you, it's never been attacked once." Marlene reassured them. "Here you don't have to fear the outside world anymore. You're safe now."

Lee processed her words. He would like to believe that, he really would, but after all they have been through, how much they've lost, could he ever go back to feeling safe. It may take some time until they adjust to their life here, but what thing's for certain is that they never intended to go back out there. "Thank you. I hope we'll be good neighbors here."

"I'm sure we will." Lee agreed with a nod. "I guess we'll catch you around sometime, Marlene. We're going to meet some of the other neighbors."

Marlene bid them farewell before going back into her home. Lee, Clementine, AJ and Jane continued to look around the neighborhood for a little while longer, see if they could meet anyone else along the way.

As they were walking, Jane picked up the pace a little to walk at the same speed level as Lee. "So how you liking this place so far? I never imagined we'd be someone so civilized again."

"Amen to that." Lee agreed. "I love this place. This exactly where I want to be for the rest of my life. We're safe here; we don't need to worry about anything anymore. We can finally settle down without worrying about the walkers or people."

Jane might have a little more trouble adapting to this place since she was not use to so many people around her. In the past, she always preferred to work alone but now she was back and was beginning to change. It may take some time, but she felt confident she would adjust in time.

* * *

Nighttime had arrived and it was time for the residents of Valford to rest for the night. When Lee, Clementine, Sarah and AJ got back to their home, they were ready for bed after a long day of exploring and adjusting to Valford. Lee remembered to lock the door behind him, but it's not like no-one was going to break in and steal stuff.

Lee tucked Clementine into bed and planted a kiss on top of her forehead. "Goodnight Clementine."

"Goodnight Lee." Clementine smiled as she closed her eyes and began to drift away into a peaceful sleep.

Lee went into Sarah's room next and tucked her in too despite her age. He planted a kiss on her forehead too. "Goodnight Sarah."

"Night Lee." Sarah replied with a smile. Before he left, she called out to him. "Lee?"

"Yes?" Lee replied as he froze in his steps.

"Thank you." Sarah thanked out of the blue.

Lee arched his eyebrows in confusion. "For what?"

"For keeping me safe, for teaching me how to protect myself and teaching me that I can be strong." Sarah explained. All of her words were honest. If it were not for Lee, then who's to say what could have happened to her? She more than likely would have died under that observation deck.

Lee only smiled in response as he turned off her light and closed her door. He had fed AJ and put him to sleep too before it was time for him to head to bed himself. He sat down at the end of his bed and began to think some things over before going to sleep himself.

From this point forward, he could finally keep Clementine and the others safe without having to keep looking over his shoulder every minute. He would never have to worry about any of his friends dying from the walkers or people for that matter. Now promises could finally be made and kept.

Despite his efforts however, he could not help but think back to all of his friends he met and survived with since the apocalypse had begun from the very beginning. Too many people had either died, went missing, remained unknown, or worse, had reanimated into walkers.

 _"Lee, remember when we were in the drugstore and I said I liked Doug in a parent's basement sort of way? Well, I like you in a similar way except a little more past a parent's basement way."_...Carley...

 _"They eat you, and whatever is left comes back as one of them."_...Doug...

 _"Yeah, and when I find them, I'm gonna ring their fuckin' bell."_...Kenny...

 _"That's really sweet, Lee."_...Katjaa...

 _"You're the greatest detective and I can be Dick Grayson! Your ward!... That's Robin."_...Duck...

 _"I'm a murderer?!" You've had Lee with you this whole time!"_...Lilly...

 _"Don't...eat...dinner..."_...Mark...

 _"We don't need all these VOTES! What do I have to do for you to TRUST me? I'll do ANYTHING!"._..Ben...

 _"Goddamn, you guys have a kid!"_...Omid...

 _"Wonderful. You two will be thick as thieves."_...Christa...

 _"Ya'll want some candy?"_...Chuck...

 _"But I'd rather make the wrong call and know, than make the right call and not."_...Glenn...

 _"I'm sure. There's nothing to fear if you remain calm. I'll keep you safe."_...Carlos...

 _"We came across this beautiful buck just standing there. The boy aims his rifle just like I taught him, he had a great shot, but then I hear him start wining, "I can't do it, I can't do it, Uncle Pete, please don't make me shoot it."."_...Pete...

 _"Hey, Lee. Sorry if I have you some shit back there. I'm just a little on edge. It's just tough time right now with the pregnancy and all. You and Alvin and probably relate."_...Rebecca...

 _"Thank you. This means...Thank you, Lee."_...Nick...

 _"Thanks, Lee. I'm glad you, Carley and Clementine are with us."_...Alvin...

 _"I expect you have used that to your advantage."_...Walter...

 _"Good King Winceslas. It's my favorite Christmas song."_...Sarita...

 _"I see at least one group a day move through here. You all look the same. It's like a great migration of the dazed and confused."_...Matthew...

 _"Your family is safer here."_...Reggie...

It's difficult to believe how many friends and family Lee had met and lost. One day he hoped that everything that he and his friends...No, not his friends, his family...He hoped one day that everything that he and his family had been through could be put behind them. Valford was their home now, a home they were going to stay at for the rest of their lives.

Lee had the feeling from this point forward that everything was going to be okay after all.

 _ **You hold your every breath  
but life is for the living, in the water (Oooooo)  
You feel that you should run, but where are you to hide  
in the water. (Oooooo)**_

 _ **Against the tide we struggle with the skin we're in, the skin we're in**_  
 _ **Against the tide we struggle**_  
 _ **to keep our heads above the deep**_  
 _ **and our hearts above the lie.**_

 _ **Above the lie.**_

 _ **You vow your life and blood**_  
 _ **but this is not our home**_  
 _ **in the water (Oooooo)**_  
 _ **Our hope here's never found**_  
 _ **just try and keep your way**_  
 _ **in the water (Oooooo)**_

 _ **Against the tide we struggle with the skin we're in, the skin we're in**_  
 _ **Against the tide we struggle**_  
 _ **to keep our heads above the deep**_  
 _ **and our hearts above the lie.**_

 _ **Above the lie.**_

 _ **With who we are today**_  
 _ **could never make amends for what we've done**_  
 _ **tainted blood**_  
 _ **His eyes, his eyes are full of love**_  
 _ **forgive them**_  
 _ **release them.**_

 _ **Oooooo  
Oooooo  
Aaaaaaa  
Oooooo  
Aaaoooo**_

 _ **Against the tide we struggle with the skin we're in, the skin we're in  
Against the tide we struggle  
to keep our heads above the deep  
and our hearts above the lie.**_

 _ **Above the lie.**_

* * *

 **The end. This concludes the end to the trilogy of this Walking Dead story and is the last story I will ever write. I'd like to give a huge shoutout to Legionary Prime for use of his OC Colonel Redford. Thanks dude. With that being said, good luck to all you writers out there and never let anyone get you down. Keep triyng and you'll meet you dreams. For the last time, ladies and gentlemen...Ciao.**

 **Assassin's Creed Master out.**

 **Disclaimer: The Walking Dead is owned by Robert Kirkman, Tony Moore, Charlie Adlard, and Telltale Games.**

 **The cast:**

 **Dave Fennoy voice of Lee Everett**

 **Melissa Hutchison voice of Clementine**

 **Louisa Mackintosh voice of Sarah**

 **Scott Porter voice of Luke**

 **Erin Yvette voice of Bonnie**

 **Dan White voice of Mike**

 **Christine Lakin voice of Jane**

 **Nicole Vigil voice of Carley (flashback)**

 ** **Sam Joan voice of Doug** **(flashback)****

 **Gavin Hammon voice of Kenny** **(flashback)**

 **Cissy Jones voice of Katjaa** **(flashback)**

 **Max Kaufman voice of Kenny Jr. "Duck" (flashback)**

 **Nikki Rapp voice of Lilly (flashback)**

 **Mark Middleton voice of Mark (flashback)**

 **Trevor Hoffmann voice of Ben Paul (flashback)**

 **Owen Thomas voice of Omid (flashback)**

 **Mara Junot voice of Christa (flashback)**

 **Roger Jackson voice of Charles "Chuck"**

 **Nick Herman voice of Glenn (flashback)**

 **Andrew "Kid Beyond" Chaikin voice of Carlos (flashback)**

 **Brian Sommer voice of Peter Joseph Randall (flashback)**

 **Shay Moore voice of Rebecca (flashback)**

 **Brian Bremer voice of Nick (flashback)**

 **Dorian Lockett voice of Alvin (flashback)**

 **Kiff VandenHeuvel voice of Walter (flashback)**

 **Julia Farmer voice of Sarita (flashback)**

 **Wylie Herman voice of Matthew (flashback)**

 **Kumail Nanjiani voice of Rajeev "Reggie" (flashback)**


End file.
